Warning out for high-flying Aussie crocs

BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Rangers at a national park in Australia's Northern Territory have posted a travel warning about crocodiles that are taking flying leaps at passing vehicles.

The most recent episode was this week in Kakadu National Park near Jabiru, when a 7-foot saltwater crocodile zipped out of a drainage ditch and lunged up at a four-wheel-drive vehicle driven by a local scientist, the Brisbane Courier-Mail reported.

"The croc just launched itself into the air with all four feet off the ground," local crocodile expert Garry Lindner told the newspaper. "The driver had no time to react and unfortunately the animal died on impact."

Lindner said there have been numerous reports lately of crocodile encounters on highways in the world heritage-listed park, and that the reptiles were on the move during the Northern Territory's wet season.