At 123 Years Old, Henry Is The World's Oldest Known Crocodile – And He's An Absolute Unit

At the ripe estimated age of 123 years old , Henry is the oldest known crocodile in the humanity – and what a life he ’s led . In the past few decades alone , the mature gentleman has mother thousands upon one thousand of materialization

With all those tenner under his bang , Henry has amassed a mammoth size . The vastly hefty croc measure over 5 time ( 16 foot 5 inches ) from snout to tail and weighs 700 kilograms ( 1,543 pounds ) .

For context , the averageNile crocodilegrows up to 4.5 meters ( 14.7 feet ) and count around 410 kilograms ( 900 pounds ) . Despite their name , the species can be found throughout large function of Africa .

Henry is believe to have been born around 1900 among the swamp of the Okavango Delta in Botswana , according toCrocworld Conservation Centrein South Africa , where he has experience since 1985 .

His natal day is fete on December 16 , so he ’s localize to turn 124 later this year . However , since he was born in the state of nature , his precise date of birth is not know .

agree to the British TV showKiller Crocs with Steve Backshall , Henry was captured in 1903 by an elephant catcher shout out Sir Henry , hence his name . However , this tale seems out of kilter with the data on Crocworld ’s website , which claim Henry spent “ most of his life ” in the Okavango Delta .

Regardless of his backstory , Henry is certainly a remarkable beast . He divvy up his current habitat with another previous croc predict Colgate , with at an count on 90 years of age .

It ’s well - establish thatcrocodilesare subject of reach age of 100 years honest-to-god in captivity . A few scientist have suggested that some crocodiliansmay exhibitsome degree of negligible senescence — a term used to describe organisms that do not exhibit evidence of biological aging . They claim that crocs , theoretically , do n’t become flat of “ old age ” and only succumb to external factors , like starving , stroke , or disease .

It would be misleading to suggest that crocodiles areimmortal in any sense , although it is all too evident they exhibit utmost longevity , especially compared to other animals of their size of it . Many factors likely underpin their robustness , although some research has suggest it might have something to do with the strange solicitation of microorganisms that populate their guts .

Onestudyconcludes : “ Given the importance of intestine microbiome on its ' host physiology , we contend that the crocodile gut microbiome and/or its ' metabolites bring about substances contributing to their ‘ hardiness ’ and length of service . ”