A survey, published Wednesday in the journal "PLos ONE", found that three crocodiles captured in the wild, fitted with satellite-tracking devices and relocated miles from their capture sites, all found their way home.

One even swam nearly 250 miles around the tip of eastern Australia in 20 days.

The research team came from the University of Queensland, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Australia Zoo of wildlife TV personality Steve Irwin, who was killed by a stingray last year.

Professor Craig Franklin, the team's spokesman, says researchers were staggered by the journeys of the crocodiles but they had yet to understand how they navigated their way back home.

"Crocodiles are more closely related to birds, so maybe they are using similar navigational tools such as magnetic fields and smell," he said.