Jayden O'Neill, Jurassic Predators (ANIMAL 2022)

Australia's 'Top End' has the densest population of Estuarine, or Saltwater Crocodiles in the world, with numbers estimated to have gone from 3000 to 100000 over the past 40 years. Having evolved over millions of years, these Jurassic predators have developed adaptations that reflect their lifestyle as ambush predators. An exoskeleton like armour of scutes don't only reflect the afternoon suns glow, but also minimises water loss as they move stealthily across the waters surface, and movement of air through the mouth to the brain allows them to thermoregulate by opening their mouths to cool them from the hot wet tropical temperatures. These images were captured with a Sony A73, 200-600mm, and a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.