What a Croc! Humans Form Close Relationships With Alligators and Crocodiles

March 4, 2011 — -- A breathing relic of prehistory is alive and well. But instead of escaping into swampy grassland, it's ready for a seatbelt. For the passenger in the front seat of Vicki Lowing's automobile is considered by some to be a living dinosaur.

It smiles with the crocodilian toothiness known from a species that has outlived the Tyrannosaurs rex by some 65 million years. Longevity through asteroid hits, disease and catastrophic temperature change allowed its ancestors to see the rise of the human race. An ancient conversation with the forces of extinction still whispers and snaps in its biology.

The reptile's head looks around inside the car and, through a window, sees the fast-moving landscape outside. This is no ordinary road trip: for a crocodile named Johnie has called shotgun, and Lowing is enjoying the open road with her reptilian best friend.

"Most people do, they think they're instinctive killers. No, they're way more intelligent than that. I believe they're as intelligent as human beings," Lowing said.

CLICK HERE to see photos of Lowing, her crocodiles and more.

It's a relationship built as much on trust as it is from an astonishing leap of faith. For Lowing, a 53 year-old nurse in Australia, lives with three crocodiles at her home. She says the emotional bond with these creatures runs deep.

"You have to live with them to know these things. And I've stated that I believe they talk by telepathy as well. People think I'm crazy, I know, but [it's] just feelings I've received," Lowing revealed.

Full grown crocodiles have the strongest bites on the planet – more even than a great white shark - with force equal to the weight of a pick-up truck. But that frightening knowledge hasn't deterred Lowing. She took in Johnie fifteen years ago when the croc was a sick 5-week-old female hatchling left anonymously at her doorstep - a tiny orphan that could fit in the palm of her hand.

"She's mine and that's it. It's like adopting a baby," Lowing said.