Crocodile rumors, theories abound in Egypt

Floating down the Nile's muddy waters on any given day are soda cans, plastic bags, swimming boys, tourists on felucca boats and patches of marsh grasses with birds hitching a ride.

This summer, a crocodile joined the flotsam and jetsam. Or so it seems.

No photos have confirmed the rumor in the two weeks since reports of sightings surfaced, but the Egyptian media have been abuzz. All that's clear is that an animal from the crocodilian family — perhaps a native Nile croc or a foreign alligator — has made its way to the urban waters of the northern Nile, something Cairenes say hasn't happened in living memory.

The officer in charge of the police patrolling the waterways in central Cairo confirms there is, in fact, a reptile in the river.

Nile crocodiles have made a recovery in other parts of Africa since being hunted to the edge of extinction by the 1950s. But they are rare in northern Egypt, and especially in settled areas where people often kill them for their prized hides — and out of fear.

The creatures have a long and storied place in Egyptian culture, dating back to the Pharaonic god Sobek, who was depicted with a crocodile head and human body. Cult worshippers built cities to him in southern Egypt, covering them with his image.

Word is, the recent crocodile — or alligator — has swum downstream to the northern Cairo neighborhood of Maadi.

The Nile is not a natural habitat for alligators. They are native to the United States and China. Gator snouts are wider and rounder than a crocodile's, with a top jaw that hides the bottom teeth. They are, according to the Crocodile Biology Database online, less tolerant of saltwater.

Be it alligator or crocodile, how did it end up in Cairo?

Some Cairenes suspect the creature somehow slipped through the High Dam that created Lake Nasser near the border with Sudan.

Wrong, say others. It escaped from the Pharaonic Village — a touristy recreation of ancient Egyptian life — in central Cairo. But employees there say the Pharaonic Village doesn't carry animals.

Wrong again, say still others. A man with a pet baby alligator was riding in a boat and dropped it into the Nile by accident but didn't tell anyone.