Friendly Crocodile

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 256, 25 July 1936, Page 25

Friendly Crocodile

There is a crocodile iu Lake Victoria which is everything a crocodile is not supposed to be. Lutembe is the name of this rather venerable reptile, and when the natives call Lutembe! out he comes, swimming to the shore. He lands and they give him stale fish, with which he is well satisfied. He does not wag his tail to show his gratitude, but it is a fact that he does not mind having it pulled. There is a photograph of a Tanganyika na five pulling it. and there seems to be a smile on the face of-the crocodile. It is easy for a crocodile to give a large and friendly smile, because his jaws are so well fitted for displaying his teeth. But Lutembe’s grin appears to be genuine, for he seems to enjoy the society of human beings. Mrs. Joyce Bellingi, of Mwanza, who took the snapshot of the tail-twisting, sends to the ■“'Children's Newspaper” another photograph of herself and Lutembe standing side by side. The crocodile’s mouth is opened wide enough to smallow the camera or the photographer, but it is a gesture meant to be friendly. Mrs. Bellingi offers a strange explanation of the reason why Lutembe swims out of the lake when called. Knba Mutesi, the Chief of Tanganyika, in 1884, was a tyrant with a hatred for white men. It is said that he used to throwvictims to the crocodiles in the lake. Lutembe may be one of the survivors of those bad old days, or have inherited the memory that when anyone called from the bank of the lake there was something waiting for crocodiles. Bnt his tameness is a trait that has never before been attributed to his race, though there was a lady crocodile-tamer who gave performances with her reptiles once.