Drone footage of a "freaky" crocodile sighting in the waters of Sri Lanka has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was posted by @suzannerico and has garnered over 506,000 views since it was shared on October 5. The footage was captured on a beach in Mirissa, a popular tourist town on the country's south coast in the Matara District, located around 93 miles south of Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.
A caption shared with post simply warns, "Don't go in the water!!!"
The woman says in the clip, "There's a guy flying a drone and he got video of a crocodile in the waves here at Mirissa Beach in Sri Lanka."
"And there he is," the woman says off-camera, as the clip shows footage of the reptile splashing around in the water on the screen of a camera held up by a person.
"He's big," the woman notes, as she asks "What do you think? Three meters [around 9.8 feet]?" Another voice off-camera replies, "Yeah, I think yeah" as the video ends.
In a later comment, the poster said the crocodile was taken away by local authorities.
Sri Lanka is home to two species of crocodile, the marsh crocodile and the estuarine crocodile, also known as the saltwater crocodile.
"Both species have declined in range and number since the turn of the century, mainly through overhunting for hide and meat in the past, and conversion of their habitat to other land-uses by man at present," according to a February 2001 study in Biological Conservation.
A more recent study, published in February 2018 in Procedia Engineering, noted that humans and crocodiles have co-existed in Sri Lanka for many years, particularly close to the Nilwala river area in Matara District.
In the past decade, "threats from crocodiles to humans have enhanced in the Nilwala river area," the study said, with around 26 attacks—which saw 18 humans be killed by saltwater crocodiles—reported in the area since 2000.
"In retaliation to these attacks, people in this area killed several crocodiles, and recorded the saltwater crocodile under the threatened category in Sri Lanka," the study said.
According to the 2018 study, "sand mining, population rise, using the river for daily needs such as drinking, bathing, washing clothes and fishing, unauthorized buildings in the river bank, scrub jungles, slow flowing of river are the major causes of the human-crocodile conflict in Nilwala river area."
'New Fears Unlocked'
Viewers on TikTok were terrified by the crocodile sighting on the beach.
User kingpoodlemom said, "I saw the four crocs sunbathing at a beach in Kirinda, not far from Mirissa. They usually live in the bay where river meets sea. I even swam in the ocean. It never occurred to us they too could...omg."
The original poster replied, "Yeah it was kinda freaky, but lifeguards were on it fast!"
User @luckyin7 said, "My God...." and sylvester menon wrote, "New fears unlocked."
Benedikte | Travel said, "Omg that's so scary!! But at the same time so cool."
Tharindu Amila 🇱🇰🇹🇭 wrote "Yep...they're coming from the rivers. Just [be] careful out there. Listen to locals and keep eyes open. Careful everyone."
User @chapter__s said "Oh gos,h we should be thankful for everything. Because I came yesterday and went [to the] beach too!!!"
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.
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