Crocodiles are able to make their way up trees, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville has found.
"These results should be taken into account by paleontologists who look at changes in fossils to shed light on behavior," Vladimir Dinets research assistant in the department of psychology at the University of Tennessee told The State Column. "This is especially true for those studying extinct crocodiles or other Archosaurian taxa," Dinets said in the statement.
Dinets monitored the whereabouts of crocodiles on three continents, and looked at previous information and similar evidence to find four kinds of crocodiles moved up trees with varying distances based on how long they were.
Smaller crocodiles extended more than their larger counterparts. The team also found a few crocodiles going four meters up, and five meters away from tree trunks The State Column reported.
"Climbing a steep hill or steep branch is mechanically similar, assuming the branch is wide enough to walk on," the authors of the study said in a statement from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville The State Column reported. "Still, the ability to climb vertically is a measure of crocodiles' spectacular agility on land.
The crocodiles would go away from the team, and into nearby bodies of water when they were 10 feet away giving them the impression that they went up trees to maintain proper body temperature, and monitor the environment around them The State Column reported.
"The most frequent observations of tree-basking were in areas where there were few places to bask on the ground, implying that the individuals needed alternatives for regulating their body temperature," the authors of the study said in a statement The State Column reported. "Likewise, their wary nature suggests that climbing leads to improved site surveillance of potential threats and prey," the authors said in the statement.
