The Santuario Della Beata Vergine Maria Delle Grazie, in Italy’s Lombardia region, is an old church famous for having a real taxidermied crocodile hanging from the ceiling.

What’s the last thing you expect to see when you look up in a church? Granted, there are plenty of interesting answers one can think of, but ‘a crocodile’ definitely ranks up there with the quirkiest of them. But if you travel to the small municipality of Curtatone, in Lombardia, Italy, you’ll find a church with a five-century-old crocodile hanging from the ceiling. It’s a peculiar sight, to say the least, but one that has been around for as long as anyone can remember. How the croc wound up at the Santuario Della Beata Vergine Maria Delle Grazie is, and will probably remain a mystery, but its purpose had been linked to religious symbolism.

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An Indonesian woman is lucky to be enough after surviving a crocodile attack for 90 minutes before finally being rescued and taken to a hospital.

On July 27, Falmira De Jesus, a 38-year-old palm oil plantation from Indonesia’s West Kalimantan Province, was collecting water from a shallow, greenery-covered stream in Ketapang Regency when she was suddenly attacked by a crocodile lying in wait. As the woman approached the body of water, the giant reptile leaped up from the foliage, grabbed her leg, and dragged her into the water. Somehow, Falmira managed to cry for help and fight the crocodile long enough for her plantation co-workers to arrive and help her. Viral footage shows the brave woman with only her head above water as she literally tries to hang on for her life to wooden poles extended in the water by her co-workers, while others prod the water with sticks to discourage the crocodile.

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A ramen restaurant in Yunlin, Taiwan, recently unveiled its latest menu entry – Godzilla Ramen, a bowl of ramen soup with a braised crocodile leg sticking out of it.

Taiwanese ramen has been getting weirder and weirder in the last few weeks. It all started with the isopod ramen we featured at the end of last month, which featured a giant isopod as the main ingredient. Then it was the ‘Frog Frog Frog Ramen‘ by Yuan Ramen (圓拉麵), which featured a giant unpeeled frog, and recently culminated with another Yunlin area ‘delicacy’, a crocodile ramen aptly named ‘Godzilla Ramen’. The dish is reportedly made with 40 different spices, but the main ingredient literally sticking out of the bowl is a braised crocodile leg.

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An Indonesian fisherman claims to have shared a friendship with a four-meter-long saltwater crocodile for over 20 years and calls the reptile part of the local community.

59-year-old Ambo, a fisherman from Bontang City, in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan, has become somewhat of a celebrity in his country because of his unusual friendship with a giant saltwater crocodile named Rizka. The giant reptile has been a constant part of Ambo’s life for the past 26 years, ever since he first laid eyes on her in the waters of Pupuk Kaltim. She was only about one meter in size back then, and he didn’t pay much attention to her as she swam past his boat, but when he noticed that she had followed him home, Ambo grabbed some food and tossed it in the water. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship spanning 26 years and who knows how many more going forward.

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A businessman from southern Thailand recently went viral for claiming that the secret to his good health is to drink crocodile blood mixed with alcohol twice a day.

Rojakorn Nanon, a 52-year-old man from Thailand’s Trang province, starts his day with a glass of crocodile mixed with a Thai spirit called lao khao, and has another such cocktail before bedtime. The businessman claims that he used to be physically weak and exhausted all the time, but ever since he started drinking crocodile blood, things took a massive turn for the better, and now he swears by the stuff. He believes the blood does wonders for several organs, for the blood, and for the nervous system.

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Thousands of people in China are taking up “crocodile crawling” classes, a weird type of back relief exercise inspired by the movement of a crocodile.

Multiple news outlets in China have been reporting on a new health trend with dozens of people joining large groups and moving around on all fours. Viral videos shot in large cities like Xiangshan and Changsha show long lines of people all dressed the same and wearing industrial gloves to protect their hands as they slowly move around on their hands and feet. The movement is supposed to strengthen back muscles and relieve back pain if practiced regularly, for a long enough period of time.

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A Zimbabwean man spent several months in the hospital recovering from a vicious attack by no less than three or four crocodiles at a fishing pond near the town of Nyamhunga.

The incident took place in January, as Alexander Chimedza arrived at the Nyamhunga sewer ponds to look for some red worms. He planned to use them as bait to catch Kariba bream, after his wife told him that she had had enough of the tigerfish that he usually brought home. Unfortunately, as soon as he approached the weed-covered banks of the pond, Alexander was attacked. He claims one crocodile tried to grab his left hand, but he instinctively pulled it away, before another crocodile managed to bite his right hand.

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A Chinese man was recently diagnosed with “crocodile tear syndrome”, a rare medical condition that causes people to shed tears whenever they eat.

Crying is usually triggered by a strong emotional reaction, such as sadness, pain or uncontrollable laughter, but in rare cases it can be activated by something as benign as eating. Last year, an elderly man, referred to only as ‘Mr. Zhang’ by Chinese media, reportedly started shedding tears when he ate. He didn’t think much of it at first, but the crying got noticeably worse when he needed to chew for longer, and this interfered with his social life. Zhang started avoiding eating in public, for fear of tears rolling down his face in front of people, so he became isolated. Luckily, he realized that this wasn’t something he could hide forever, and decided to see a doctor.

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In what can be described as one of the weirdest accidents of the year, a Filipino man was seriously hurt by a crocodile after climbing down into a pool to take a selfie with it, thinking it was just a realistic plastic model.

68-year-old Nehemias Chipada was visiting the Amaya View amusement park in Cagayan de Oro City, the Philippines, on November 10 when he spotted what he thought was a life-like model of a crocodile. It looked eerily realistic, so the Filipino man, who was celebrating his birthday with his family at the amusement park, climbed down to take a selfie with the cold-blooded reptile and even tapped it on the head. The thought that the 12-meter “model” could actually be a real crocodile never crossed his mind, at least until he got dangerously close to it and the reptile sank its teeth into his left arm…

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Sri Ananthapura temple in north Kerala’s Kasaragod district is allegedly home to a vegetarian crocodile named ‘Babiya’ who has been living there for over 70 years.

Pictures of a large crocodile inside the Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Lake Temple made international news headlines last year, boosting the small Hindu temple’s popularity. But in reality, this was one of the few times that the giant reptile had entered the temple, as it spends most of its time in an adjacent pond, waiting for the priests to bring it the daily meals, which are always vegetarian. If the priests are to be believed, Babiya the crocodile has been living solely on cooked rice for as long as he’s been at the temple, which adds up to over seven decades.

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Some people wouldn’t get anywhere near an adult crocodile for all the money in the world, but one Japanese family in Kure City, Hiroshima, has been living with one for almost four decades.

Nobumitsu Murabayashi bought “Caiman-san”, his pet crocodile, from a pet store, after his young son begged him to. He never thought he’d become part of the family, and still be with them nearly 40 years later. Today, the domesticated crocodile measures just under 7 feet long (6feet 8inches) weighs around 45 kilograms, but he’s a gentle giant, as Nobumitsu says he would never hurt anyone. Caiman-san lives in the family home, but also goes on walks with his master and is tame enough to let young children touch and even ride him.

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Indonesian officials are offering a monetary reward to whoever manages to remove a motorcycle tyre from the neck of a 13-foot-long crocodile.

The full-grown crocodile has reportedly been wearing the tire around its neck since 2016, but authorities in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, are worried that it may end up strangling the reptile, so they are turning to the public for help. In 2018, conservationist and “animal whisperer” Muhammad Panji tried to remove the tire, and later that year the local conservation office tried luring the 4-meter-long crocodile with food. Both attempts proved unsuccessful so Palu officials are now hoping that brave locals can do the impossible for an unspecified cash prize.

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Rebecca Munkombwe, an 11-year-old girl from Zimbabwe, is being hailed as a hero for allegedly saving a 9-year-old friend from the jaws of a crocodile by jumping on the reptile and gouging its eyes out.

According to Zimbabwean media, Rebecca and her friends had just got back from a swim in a stream near their home village of Sinderela, when they heard the screams coming from the water. The 11-year-old was shocked to see her 9-year-old friend Latoya Muwani being dragged into the water by a crocodile. While all the other children were petrified or running scared, Rebecca Munkombwe allegedly ran toward the water, jumped on top of the crocodile and started gouging its eyes out until it loosened its grip on Latoya.

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Kanathip Nathip, a 53-year-old man from Phitsanulok, Thailand,  never has to worry about locking the door of his home whenever he goes out, as anyone foolish enough to try and rob it would get the surprise of a lifetime. The Thai man shares his house with a full grown crocodile that’s free to move around as he pleases and doesn’t take kindly to uninvited guests.

Nathip got the crocodile 20 years ago, as a pet for his two children. He had taken them to a crocodile farm in Nakorn Sawan and they loved the reptiles so much that he ended up buying not one but two of them. At first both Thong (Gold) and Ngern (Silver) lived in the family home, but as time went by, it became clear that Ngern wasn’t meant to be a house pet, so they built a small pond in the yard and moved him there. Thong, on the other hand, seemed much more comfortable in the house, so he’s been living there for the past two decades. Even though Nathip’s two sons have grown up and moved out of the house, the 53-year-old still has Thong, who he considers his third son.

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In cultures all across the globe, animals are revered, and even worshipped. In Hinduism, for example, cows are valued for their gentle nature. But not every sacred animal is quite so harmless; crocodiles were worshipped in Ancient Egypt, as they were believed to be living representations of the god Sobek. You may be surprised to learn that the deification of crocodiles is far from ancient history.

In Burkina Faso, just 30 kilometers away from the capital of Ouagadougou, there is a small village of Bazoule, where its people — descendents of Mossis warriors — have chosen the Crocodylus suchus as its totem. Although Bazoule is located in a landlocked country, it does have its own pond, where 150 of these unusually docile creatures reside. Despite the fearsome reputation of crocodiles, the villagers have no problem living alongside them. In fact, the Mossi boldly approach the crocodiles to play; they even sit on and lie next to them.

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