# @science on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DYVNHW9mLIh
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/65560660-science-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b3d59300af.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-14T19:47:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Science 🧬 (@science) — https://gondola.cc/science

## Caption

Chito, a fisherman, tour guide, and naturalist from Siquirres, Limón Province, Costa Rica, discovered an emaciated and dehydrated male crocodile weighing 70 kg (150 lb) on the banks of the Reventazón River in 1989. Upon closer examination, Shedden discovered that the crocodile had been shot in the head through the left eye by a local cattle farmer because the crocodile had been preying on a herd of cows. Shedden took the crocodile home in his boat along with the reluctant help of some friends.⁠
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For six months, Shedden fed the crocodile 30 kg (66 lb) of chicken and fish a week, sleeping with it at night in his home. Shedden also simulated the chewing of food with his mouth to encourage the crocodile to eat, and gave it kisses and hugs while talking to it and petting it. Shedden later stated his belief that providing food alone would not have helped it recover, and that "the crocodile needed my love to regain the will to live".⁠
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Shedden hid the crocodile in an obscured pond with a thick overhead canopy of trees deep in a nearby forest until he obtained the necessary wildlife permits from Costa Rican authorities to own and raise the crocodile legally.⁠
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After the crocodile's health improved, Shedden released the crocodile - now named Pocho, meaning "strong" in the local dialect - in a nearby river to return it to the wild, but the crocodile refused to go back to its natural habitat, and so Shedden decided to allow the crocodile to live in the water outside his home. Pocho was considered a member of his family, alongside Shedden's wife and daughter.⁠
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Shedden trained the crocodile to respond to its own name being called. For more than twenty years, Shedden swam with the crocodile in the river outside his home, mostly at night, talking and playing with Pocho while hugging, kissing and caressing him.⁠
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#crocodile #fisherman #animals #science #biology #story

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## Tags

animals, crocodile, science, story, biology, fisherman

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