Northern Territory’s growing saltwater crocodile population gorging on nine times more prey than 50 years ago

Analysis shows the Northern Territory saltwater crocodile population consumed less than 20kg of prey per square kilometre of wetland in 1979. That increased to about 180kg per square kilometre in 2019. Photograph: Martin Keene/PA

The growing saltwater crocodile population in the Northern Territory has led to the creatures gorging on nine times more prey than they did 50 years ago, with the apex predators contributing important nutrients to Top End waterways, new research suggests.

Saltwater crocodile populations have increased exponentially in recent decades, from less than 3,000 in 1971, when a ban on hunting was introduced, to more than 100,000 animals today.