Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Australia closes crocodile swimming holes DARWIN, Australia, May 9 (UPI) -- A surge in the number of voracious salt-water crocodiles has led to the closure of dozens of popular tropical swimming holes in northern Australia. Advertisement Wildlife rangers and local aboriginals agree the number of the reptiles makes swimming hazardous in such places as Australia's World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, east of Darwin, but tour operators have challenged the decision to close the waters, the BBC said. Two-and-a-half years ago, a German backpacker was killed during a midnight swim by a crocodile in the park, and wildlife officials are keen to prevent any more attacks. There was no explanation given for what caused the crocodile population to burgeon. Meanwhile, tour operator Graham Lewis said officials should expand the practice of trapping the crocodiles in steel cages, as is done in the Darwin harbor, from which about 150 of the giants are pulled each year. Advertisement "If it's a fact that there are crocodiles there, then we all have a responsibility to protect our tourists," Lewis said. Beachcomber wrong about free willy AUCKLAND, New Zealand, May 9 (UPI) -- An Auckland, New Zealand, beachcomber who reported finding a severed male penis has learned that similar-looking objects exist in the ocean. Police from Manukau on the island's north shore sped to the scene when the horrified hiker called Sunday to say he had discovered a complete set of male genitalia - a penis and testicles -- shriveling in the sand. Police communications spokesman Andrew Brill told the Wellington Dominion Post Monday officers reported the find was, in fact, some type of marine life, and not human. "Maybe seaweed, maybe some sort of anemone ...but it was apparently very realistic," he said. Asked how officers could make the determination without forensic laboratory work, Brill said he suspected they spared no efforts in the field. "I assume they poked and prodded it and sniffed it to work it out," he said. Study: For fish, size does matter ST. LOUIS, May 9 (UPI) -- A Washington University biologist in St. Louis says some female fish are more likely to choose males with larger sexual organs for mating. Advertisement However, biology graduate student Brian Langerhans said males with an average-sized sex organ, or gonopodium, aren't just left out in the cold. The smaller gonopodium allows the fish to have faster burst speeds, making them more fit for escaping predators than their well-endowed counterparts. Langerhans performed studies on mosquitofish, a guppy-like fish about an inch long, and found females spend 80 percent more time with males who have a large gonopodium. He published his findings in the May 9 online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "A male with a larger gonopodium has a higher chance of mating, but in a predator environment he has a higher probability of dying," Langerhans said. "That's the cost, the tradeoff. On the other hand, we found that in predator-free environments gonopodia size was larger, as there is minimal cost for large genitalia in that environment. Bigger is better for mating, but smaller is better for avoiding predation."
