Lost Crocodiles of the Pharaohs

Production Details

This is the remarkable story of 28 year old Kilkenny-born PhD Student Tara Shine. Tara discovered crocodiles in Mauritania, on the edge of the Sahara, where the experts said they could not exist. The film shows how, despite a complete lack of knowledge in this field, Tara went on to discover how these reptiles have evolved to live in one of the hottest and driest places on earth.

Crocodiles once lived across the whole of North Africa from Mauritania to Egypt.  In Egypt they existed in the time of the Pharaohs.  In fact they were worshipped by the Pharaohs – as Italian archaeologist Edda Bresciani has discovered.

Excavating a 3,000 year old temple, Bresciani unearthed a sealed chamber containing 30 perfectly preserved crocodile eggs.  Here lay the first evidence that the Pharaohs bred these reptiles for worship and sacrifice to their crocodile-headed god Sobek.  With the encroachment of the desert and the demise of the Pharaohs, the Nile crocodile became extinct in Egypt, and there were thought to be no breeding populations in the Sahara, until Tara made her astonishing discovery.

Could these be related to the Pharaoh’s crocodiles?