A “float” of crocodiles describes exactly what it sounds like: several crocodiles lying motionless at the water’s surface, barely visible, easily mistaken for logs drifting along. That resemblance isn’t an accident of nature so much as a survival advantage crocodiles have leaned into for millions of years.
Crocodiles are ambush predators, and floating still at the surface, with only eyes and nostrils breaking the waterline, lets them watch the shoreline for prey while using almost no energy. Their specialized eyes and nostrils sit on raised bumps specifically so the rest of the body can stay submerged and hidden. A group floating together multiplies that ambush advantage without any real cooperation between them, more crocodiles quietly watching the water simply means more chances one of them gets a meal.
This behavior is most common in calm water during warmer parts of the day, when crocodiles are also regulating their body temperature by staying partially submerged.
Example: “What looked like a float of crocodiles turned out to be exactly that, not logs, once one blinked.”
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