In Supersize Crocs, Rom takes viewers along as he sets off on his own hunt to find the last of the leviathans. Venturing to Ethiopia’s Lake Chamo, the riverbanks of India’s northern border with Nepal, and to the Adelaide River of Australian outback, Rom hits the hotspots of supersize croc habitats as he searches for signs of life among the brackish waters. Rom will share with viewers his insight and fascination with the cryptic world of crocs. Along the way, viewers will learn about ancient croc survival skills as well as how crocs are ideally designed to be the most successful freshwater predator.

Will he find his supersize croc among the three titans of the croc world: the Nile crocodiles, saltwater crocodiles and gharials? Tune in to find out.

To order a copy of Supersize Crocs, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Supersize Crocs was originally posted February 2007.

Rom Whitaker founded India’s first snake park in Madras in 1972. The park received early support from the World Wildlife Fund and other international organizations for its pioneering research and work in conservation. In 1976, Rom co-founded the Madras Crocodile Bank, after realizing that three Indian species of crocodiles were on the verge of extinction. The Crocodile Bank is now home to 3,000 crocodiles of 15 different species, and is also the base of a major freshwater turtle project supported by the Turtle Survival Alliance (USA), and a gharial conservation project, supported by the Gharial Conservation Alliance.

Whitaker has published widely and made dozens of films. Most recently, he set up India’s first rainforest research station in Agumbe, for which he was rewarded the Whitley Fund for Nature award in 2005, and a Rolex Award for Enterprise in November 2008.

Q: How did you become interested in reptiles?

A: I spent my childhood in northern New York State and like many kids, bugs and other critters fascinated me. My first encounter with a snake was one that was battered to death by my little friends. I took it home in a jar and remember how horrified my sister and mother were that the poor little guy was smashed. The next time I found a snake I brought it home alive, and my mother helped me fix up an old aquarium as my first terrarium — I was hooked. Luckily there were no venomous snakes around Hoosick, NY so I amassed quite a collection of milk snakes, garters, ribbons and ring-necked snakes. My mother bought me The Boy’s Book of Snakes and later Snakes of the World by Raymond Ditmars, took me to the NY Natural History Museum and in general, fostered an interest that grew into an obsession and, of course, eventually my occupation.

Could you describe your creation of Madras Snake Park in India?

When I returned to India in 1967 after two years in the US Army, my goal was to set up a snake park like the one I worked at in Miami: the Miami Serpentarium run by the famous, most snake-bitten man in the world, Bill Haast. I started out by producing and selling snake venom, the idea being to build up capital for the project. I was sourcing snakes, particularly kraits, all over India and came to know of this fantastic tribe of snake catchers, the Irulas, living near Madras in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. After seeing their artistry I just wanted to work with them, learn from them, and involve them in my developing ideas.

I moved to Madras and rented a piece of land with an old house on it quite far from the city. My brother Neel, sister Nina, and my Irula friends helped me make the first snake enclosures, put up a board and get some newspaper publicity. Thus was born India’s first snake park. This was in 1970, and two years later the Tamil Nadu Forest Department gave me a 25-year lease of a piece of lovely scrub jungle right in the heart of the city. The new Madras Snake Park was an overnight success and soon we were getting a million visitors a year!

Is it true that you used to wear a sand boa coiled through your hair in those days?

Yes, I guess I was a pretty strange sight, a wild-haired hippy snake man with a three-foot-long sand boa tangled in my hair as I rode around on my motorcycle; it was all good for publicity though, and there were a lot of good spin-offs, including early support from the World Wildlife Fund and a couple of local and international awards and recognition for pioneering work in the subject.

Could you describe your creation of the Madras Crocodile Bank and the work it does now?

In the early days of the Snake Park we collected a few crocodiles and, lo and behold, they started breeding in the small enclosures we had for them. By then we were doing herpetology surveys in different parts of the country and it became obvious that the three Indian species of crocs were going extinct. I was then married to Zai Whitaker, the daughter of one of India’s best-known conservationists Zafar Futehally, and together we started the Madras Crocodile Bank in 1976. Located on the main tourist route outside of Madras (now Chennai), it got a lot of publicity and visitors from the start. We had 14 mugger crocodiles, five saltwater crocodiles and two gharials, plus an American alligator at the start. Now, 30 years later we have 3,000 crocodiles of 15 different species. This was the only private crocodile-breeding center in the country, and the largest.

What was it like to swim in the cave, searching for the olm?

Swimming in that water, a mile beneath the earth’s surface was a bit unnerving, but I was more worried about freezing to death. I may have Viking genes, but I’m totally tropicalized and stripping down to put that wet suit on and slipping into that frigid water was not my idea of fun. The only thing that made it worth it was finding those olms. It didn’t take long to spot one, but the water kept getting murky from my clumsy movements so it took a very long time to finally bring one up in the hand net, and each minute I thought I would freeze to death. Just for fun we turned off all the lights for a while down there and that was a strange, unbalancing experience; we could just imagine how it might be to be early cave explorers with unreliable lights that might fail!

You have survived several venomous snakebites. How?

First, I’d like to make it very clear that getting bitten by a venomous snake is dumb, clumsy and nothing to be proud of. Each of my bites has been because I did something stupid, like the first, a water moccasin that I was pinning on a log in the Everglades; the log went under as I was reaching for the snake’s neck and it turned at the last moment and nailed me nicely. This one and the subsequent two rattlesnake bites out in Texas (during my US Army days) were painful and in the case of one, debilitating: my right forefinger is permanently stiffened and numb.

How did you discover you were allergic to modern antivenom?

When I received antivenom for my second bite I reacted very badly with itchy hives all over my body and spent a very uncomfortable two days recovering just from the treatment. If I get bitten now I can’t take the antivenom without a ‘cover’ of antihistamines. In 2006, on a film shoot involving crocodiles, I stupidly tried to help a snake get across a road full of traffic and in the melee got nailed on my thumb. Well, I had to chase the snake to figure out what it was and it turned out to be a black whip snake, venomous but not fatally so. A big swollen hand resulted, which is very embarrassing when you’re supposed to be catching crocs and presenting a film. I had to keep my hand hidden for a few days till the swelling subsided.

Had you been whipped by a water monitor tail before?

I’ve had lots of encounters with water monitors and lots of whips, that’s just par for the course when you work with these critters. You do have to be careful not to get whipped in the face; I reckon it could put an eye out if you’re unlucky.

Were you surprised when the Komodo dragon started chasing you?

I really had no idea that Komodos would actually chase a human, but then again, why not; we must be as tasty as a deer. This was truly a surprise, and I’m glad the local guides insisted that we carry a forked stick with us and that we shouldn’t walk around alone on the island.

Did you have a favorite or unexpected moment while shooting The Dragon Chronicles?

I think the most unexpected moment was being chased by the Komodo dragon. The other startling revelation was the dragon’s immense power and stamina. I’m used to crocodiles: they’re very powerful but they run out of steam very quickly when you are capturing and handling them. The dragon we caught for our saliva tests just didn’t tire and his recovery time after we released him was just seconds!

What was the most exciting location for you and why?

Each location had its excitement and uniqueness. Certainly the Komodo dragon experiences were the most action-packed, but being down in those beautiful caves of Slovenia, slopping through the mangroves of Sri Lanka, getting within touching distance of wild Nile crocodiles in Ethiopia, climbing the Indian rain forest canopy looking for flying lizards, and watching the marvelous spitting cobra do its thing—I loved all of it!

Describe some of the more difficult or frustrating moments of shooting.

Typically, the most frustrating times were waiting for permissions from local authorities to allow us to get on with our work. But by and large both people and creatures were remarkably cooperative on this entire film shoot.

What are some of your favorite moments of handling snakes and crocodiles throughout your career?

I could be described as a very lucky puppy, having spent much of my life in this beautiful and sometimes surreal country of India, almost three years on the island of New Guinea, months in the depths of Borneo, Mozambique, Costa Rica, the American southeast and southwest, and always in pursuit of fantastic reptiles.

One of the most decisive moments in my life was finding my first king cobra at Agumbe, where we’ve just set up India’s first rainforest research station. I’ll never forget the feeling of facing that magnificent 12-foot-long snake all by my lonesome and the somewhat crazy maneuvers that it took to get it into a bag. Similarly, there are hundreds of fond and exciting memories of hunting rattlers in the hills of Arizona, moccasins in the Florida swamps, and saw-scaled vipers in the Rajasthan desert. I’m 65 years old and instincts (and some well-meaning friends) say I should slow down and maybe take it a little easier, but how can I?

What can humans learn from the “dragons” featured in the film?

Years ago it was pretty hard to get people to empathize even a little bit with scaly, cold-blooded critters; now, thanks a lot to good PR from television, it is easier to get the message of reptile conservation and tolerance across. We have a lot to be thankful to reptiles for, not the least of which is their control of rodents.

But besides their utility on the planet, our remaining dragons are needed to excite our senses, to fill every generation with renewed wonder, and to keep us alert for that predator lurking just around the corner!

Photo © saravanakumar/Icon Films Ltd.

Komodo Dragons

Scientific American: “The Komodo Dragon”
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-komodo-dragon

Scientific American: “Komodo Dragons’ Skillful Skulls” (Audio)
http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=57A67227-95ED-7B15-C3880050A6F02814&sc=rss

Nature [the journal]: “Parthenogenesis in Komodo Dragons”
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7122/full/4441021a.html

Conservation, Research, and Organizations

Amphibians and Reptiles and Climate Change
http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/topics/amphibians-reptiles.shtml
Get more information about the effects of climate change on amphibian and reptile populations in this article by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Climate Change Resource Center.

Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
http://www.ssarherps.org/
SSAR is the world’s largest international herpetological society, founded in 1958.

Crocodile Specialist Bank
http://iucncsg.org/
The Crocodile Specialist Bank is a worldwide network of people actively involved in the conservation of the world’s 23 living species of alligators, crocodiles, caimans, and gharials in the wild.

Gharial Conservation Alliance
http://www.gharialconservation.org/
The Gharial Conservation Alliance is an international organization committed to conserving gharials.

Miami Serpentarium Laboratories
http://www.miamiserpentarium.com/
Check out the site for Bill Haast’s famous first venom research center, where Rom Whitaker got his start.

Reptile and Amphibian Ecology International
http://www.reptilesandamphibians.org/
Reptile and Amphibian Ecology International is a conservation and research organization striving to discover, document, and preserve the rich diversity of living reptiles and amphibians.

Romulus Whitaker

Madras Crocodile Bank
http://www.madrascrocodilebank.org/
This is the official site of Romulus Whitaker’s crocodile bank in India.

“Mystery of Crocs’ Massive Die-Off”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7755393.stm
This BBC article features Rom Whitaker and his work with gharials.

Hereford Mappa Mundi

Hereford Cathedral: Mappa Mundi
http://www.herefordcathedral.org/mappa_mappa.asp
Check out Hereford Cathedral’s Web site for more information about the Mappa Mundi that appears in The Dragon Chronicles.

Society for the History of Discoveries: “Making a Mappa Mundi: The Hereford Map”
http://www.sochistdisc.org/2002_articles/westrem.htm

IN PRINT

Bebler, John L. and King, F. Wayne (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of North America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Freiberg, Dr. Marcos and Jerry Walls (1984). The World of Venomous Animals. New Jersey: TFH Publications.

Guggisberg, C.A.W. (1972). Crocodiles: Their Natural History, Folklore, and Conservation. Newton Abbot, David & Charles.

Neill, Wilfred (1971). The Last of the Ruling Reptiles: Alligators, Crocodiles, and Their Kin. Columbia University Press.

Ross, Charles (1989).  Crocodiles and Alligators.  Facts on File, Inc.

Whitaker, Romulus & Ashok Captain (2004). Snakes of India: The Field Guide. Draco Books.

The relationship between crocodiles and humans has been one of fear, fascination, and reverence. Crocodiles have been the focus of legends, songs, and art, as well as being hunted for the use of their skins and as a food source. Extensive hunting of the crocodile has resulted in the disappearance of the supersize croc. In this lesson students will examine how different cultures view the crocodile, write about a real-life event from multiple perspectives, and reflect on the possibilities that the supersize croc will make a re-appearance in the next twenty years.

Grade Level: Grades 9-12

Subject Areas: Science, Language Arts

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to do the following:

• analyze and write about an event from multiple perspectives.
• conduct research and analyze information in order to formulate a prediction.

Materials:

• Computers with Internet access
• The video of the episode “Supersize Crocs”
• “Crocodiles FAQ” handout (PDF)
• “Crocodiles Eat Dozen People in Lake Victoria in Uganda” article from the Xinhua News Agency website (PDF)
• “Crocodile News Report” organizer
• “Crocodile News Report” rubric (PDF)
• “Crocodile Information” organizer (PDF)

Bookmark the following sites:

Florida Museum of Natural History
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/cbd-faq.htm
This site contains facts and questions about crocodiles.

One World Magazine
http://www.oneworldmagazine.org/tales/crocs/cinder.html
This site contains an Indonesian version of the Cinderella story entitled “Cinderella Crocodile.”

The following websites contain information for crocodile research purposes:

Crocodilians Natural History and Conservation
http://crocodilian.com/

The Paleosuchus Page
http://crocodilian.com/paleosuchus/

Queen’s Land Park and Wildlife Service
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_conservation/wildlife/native_animals/living_with_wildlife/crocodiles/

STANDARDS

www.mcrel.org

Language Arts
Level III [Grade 9-12] 

Writing

Standard 1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process

5. Uses strategies to address writing to different audiences (e.g., includes explanations and definitions according to the audience’s background, age, or knowledge of the topic, adjusts formality of style, considers interests of potential readers)

6. Uses strategies to adapt writing for different purposes (e.g., to explain, inform, analyze, entertain, reflect, persuade)

7. Writes expository compositions (e.g., synthesizes and organizes information from first- and second-hand sources, including books, magazines, computer data banks, and the community; uses a variety of techniques to develop the main idea [names, describes, or differentiates parts; compares or contrasts; examines the history of a subject; cites an anecdote to provide an example; illustrates through a scenario; provides interesting facts about the subject]; distinguishes relative importance of facts, data, and ideas; uses appropriate technical terms and notations)

Life Sciences

Standard 6. Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

1. Knows how the interrelationships and interdependencies among organisms generate stable ecosystems that fluctuate around a state of rough equilibrium for hundreds or thousands of years (e.g., growth of a population is held in check by environmental factors such as depletion of food or nesting sites, increased loss due to larger numbers of predators or parasites)

5. Knows ways in which humans can alter the equilibrium of ecosystems, causing potentially irreversible effects (e.g., human population growth, technology, and consumption; human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, and atmospheric changes)

Crocodiles have roamed the earth for millions of years. Differing little from their prehistoric ancestors, they have survived everything from the ice ages to poaching. In this lesson, students will examine the similarities between crocodiles and humans as they compare and contrast skeletal structure, height ratios and body parts.

Grade Level: Grades 6-8

Subject Areas: Science, Math

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to do the following:

• compare the skeletal structure of supersize crocodiles to humans.
• analyze the similar internal structures of humans and crocodiles.
• use ratio to estimate the height of a person.
• use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to create a supersize croc image.

Materials:

• Computer with Internet access
• The video of the episode “Supersize Crocs”  
• “Compare the Facts” worksheet (PDF)
• “How do Supersize Crocs Measure Up?” organizer (PDF)
• “Crocodile and Human Comparison” Venn diagram (PDF)
• Tape measure (one for each group of students)
• Rulers: one per student
• Yardsticks: several
• 18×24 piece of paper: one per student

Bookmark the following sites:

Super Croc website
http://www.supercroc.org/about.htm
This website contain facts about the Sarcosuchus imperator.

Museum of Natural History
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/crocs/crocodilephotos.htm
This website contains a large selection of crocodile photographs.

STANDARDS

www.mcrel.org

Math
Level III [Grade 6-8]

Standard 2. Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of numbers

7. Understands the concepts of ratio, proportion, and percent and the relationships among them

Standard 3. Uses basic and advanced procedures while performing the processes of computation

6. Uses proportional reasoning to solve mathematical and real-world problems (e.g., involving equivalent fractions, equal ratios, constant rate of change, proportions, percents)

Standard 5. Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of geometry

6. Understands the mathematical concepts of similarity (e.g., scale, proportion, growth rates) and congruency

Science
Level III [Grade 6-8]

Standard 5. Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms

4. Knows that multicellular organisms have a variety of specialized cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems that perform specialized functions (e.g., digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control and coordination, protection from disease)

Standard 7. Understands biological evolution and the diversity of life

4. Knows evidence that supports the idea that there is unity among organisms despite the fact that some species look very different (e.g., similarity of internal structures in different organisms, similarity of chemical processes in different organisms, evidence of common ancestry)

Time for Completion: 30 Minutes

The purpose of this activity is to pique students’ interest and build background knowledge about supercrocs.

1. Tell students that Alfred Felix de Lapparent, a French paleontologist, discovered fossilized teeth and armor plates of a giant crocodile while on several prospecting missions to the Sahara in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Explain to students that they are going to compare the structure of the human skull and skeleton to that of a sarcosuchus imperator, better known as a supercroc.
2. Divide the class into groups of five or six students. Give each group a copy of the “Compare the Facts” worksheet. Ask students to work together to answer the questions on the worksheet. Students may use the Internet or informational books to complete this activity.
3. After students have completed the questions, involve the students in a discussion about the similarities and differences of human and crocodile skeletal structures.

STEPS

Activity One

Time for completion: 50 Minutes

In this activity students will examine how ratio can be used to estimate the size of crocodiles and humans.

1. Divide the class into groups of four or five students. Give each group a measuring tape and each student a copy of the “How do Supersize Crocs Measure Up?” organizer. Ask students to complete “Part One” of the organizer. Teacher Note: Before beginning the activity, review the technique for measuring arm span and height with your students.
2. Tell students how naturalists sometimes use ratios to determine the size of living animals and to estimate the size of previously living animals from their skeletal remains. Watch the “Supersize Crocs” program from 9:57 to 13:03. Discuss how they used measurement to estimate the size of crocodiles in the wild.
3. Ask students to return to their groups and complete “Part Two” of the organizer. After students have completed the activity, involve students in a discussion about the results. You may also want to emphasize how ratio can be used in practical applications.

Activity Two

Time for completion: 2 50-minute class periods. (Completing the “B” and “AVB” sections of the diagram and writing the summary could be completed as a homework assignment.)

In this activity, students will compile information into Venn diagrams to analyze the similarities and differences between the bodies of crocodiles and humans.

1. Watch the “Supersize Crocs” program from 7:16 to 9:31. Discuss the similarities between the bodies of crocodiles and humans.
2. Send students to the crocodile anatomy section of the Nature website. Pass out copies of the “Crocodile and Human Comparison” Venn diagrams. Ask students to complete a “Crocodile and Human Comparison” diagram for the following sections on the Nature interactive: stomach, jaw muscles and teeth, nostrils and heart. Teacher Note: For this activity you may assign all of the sections mentioned above to each student or assign specific sections to each student.
3. Explain to students that they are going to create a separate diagram for each part of the anatomy that they research. Ask students to label the diagram with the name of the body part for which they are recording information. Tell students to record information about the crocodile in the “A” section of the diagram. After students have completed the crocodile section of the diagram, have them research how the same part functions in humans and record the information in the “B” section of the chart. After students have completed both the “A” and “B” sections of the chart, have students determine the common properties shared by both crocodiles and humans and record them in the “A V B” section of the diagram.
4. After students have completed the diagrams, ask them to write a paragraph that summarizes the differences and commonalities of the functionality of the crocodile and human body part.
5. As a class, look at the remaining sections of the Nature interactive including the palatal valve, osteoderms, tail, claws, eyes and protective (third) eyelid, and the integumentary sense organs. Involve students in a discussion about how these body parts may have helped the crocodile survive on the earth for millions of years and to grow to extraordinary sizes when humans didn’t hunt them in large numbers.

Assessment Suggestions

The “Compare the Facts” worksheet, “How do Supersize Crocs Measure Up?” organizer, and “Crocodile and Human Comparisons” diagrams may be used to assess these activities.

Extension Activity

In this activity students will use ratio and grids to create a supersize croc.

Have students print a photograph of a crocodile and draw a ½ inch grid over the picture. Ask students to draw a two-inch grid on the 18 x 24 piece of paper. Have students draw a supersize croc by recreating the lines found in the ½ inch grid box in the 2-inch grid box in the same coordinates on the larger piece of paper.

Teacher Note: The “Crocodile Photo Gallery” section of the Florida Museum of Natural History has a selection of photographs that may be used for this activity.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/crocs/crocodilephotos.htm 

About the Author

Laurel Blaine is founder of Digital Narratives LLC, a curriculum design company. In addition to content development, Digital Narratives also works with young people to enhance their literacy skills as they explore the power of digital storytelling. Over the past decade, Laurel has created educational materials for a diverse range of clients including The Kennedy Center, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Learning Matters/Listen Up! and Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum.

Though the crocodile’s ancestry dates back 200 million years, the crocodile, as we know it today, first evolved about 80 million years ago. According to the fossil record, their body plan has changed little since, enabling them to outlive the dinosaurs and become the most advanced of all reptiles and the most successful freshwater predator.

There is no single secret to the crocodile’s success. With few natural predators, a permanent armor of bony plates covering most of its body and strong jaw muscles capable of crushing anything from bones to cast iron, the croc is an extremely tough and robust creature. A croc can survive even after serious injuries such as a torn off limbs or tail and has a powerful immune system that helps it survive for decades.

But its adaptations go beyond being hardy. One of the keys to its survival is something one might think of as primitive: cold-bloodedness. Like all reptiles, crocs are ectotherms, which means they must gather heat from their environment. Crocodiles have developed behaviors to control their body thermostat: they bask in the sun when cool and seek shade or water when hot. Ectotherms like crocs don’t need to eat regularly to warm their bodies, and so they save an enormous amount of energy that can be put to other use or stored for later. A croc’s metabolism is so evolved that its body uses and stores nearly the entirety of the food it consumes. This is one reason why larger crocodiles can go for over a year without eating a meal. In extreme situations, crocodiles appear to be able to shut down and live off their own tissue for a long period of time.

But most crocs eat much more often than that. In fact, the average croc eats about 50 full meals a year. When they feast, crocodiles are certainly not picky eaters. It’s said that a croc will feed on anything it can outswim or ambush and overpower. These reptiles have extraordinarily adaptable diets. Larger crocodiles will eat larger mammals and birds, but they’ll also eat fish and mollusks like snails. During difficult times, they will even scavenge for carrion. In fact, crocs will consume almost everything they encounter. And that means everything. A croc’s stomach is the most acidic of all vertebrates, allowing it to digest bones, horns, hooves, or shells. Nothing gets left behind in a crocodile’s dinner. In fact these hard objects are used as “gizzard stones” in the croc’s stomach to help grind coarse food.

While the crocodile’s diet may be undiscriminating, its social interactions are a bit more complicated. Crocs are more social than all other reptiles. Though they primarily lead solitary lives, they resort to group behavior for important activities such as hunting or raising hatchlings. Crocs don’t merely recognize one other, they form long-term relationships. They are hierarchical and communicate by means of vocalization, postures, chemical signals, even touch.

A crocodile’s brain is more complex than that of any other reptile. These powerful predators also have an excellent sense of smell and superior sound perception. Noting the crocís ability to learn to avoid dangerous situations, researchers have found that they have to modify their techniques when capturing crocs. It’s very hard to catch a croc twice with the same trick.

Crocodiles have demonstrated behavioral, physiological and structural adaptations that have allowed them to thrive for hundreds of millions of years, but, unfortunately, surviving human encroachment may be their biggest challenge ever. Through habitat enhancement and environmental education, humans may be able to ensure that these once endangered prehistoric reptiles practice their sophisticated survival skills for years to come.