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"Mom of a Croc" is the 1st episode of Season 1 of the PBS Kids show Wild Kratts. It is the 1st episode of the series overall. It premiered on January 3, 2011, the show's debut.
Synopsis[]
At the Nile River in Uganda, zoologists Chris and Martin Kratt are on a mission to show one of their fellow Wild Kratts team members, brilliant young inventor Aviva Corcovado, that there is much more to crocodiles than just violence and snapping jaws. After shrinking themselves down to a few inches tall by using Aviva's Miniaturizer invention, the Kratt brothers disguise themselves as crocodile eggs and sneak into a mother crocodile's new nest. In the Wild Kratts team's aircraft and headquarters, the Tortuga HQ, the team, consisted of Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy Z monitor the Kratt Brothers and see how protective mother crocodiles are to her eggs. When the eggs hatch and the mother crocodile temporarily leaves her nest, the first batch of baby crocodiles are under threat of predators. Using two of Aviva's inventions, the Creature Power Suits, the Kratt Brothers gain the abilities of the Nile crocodile to protect the hatchlings.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live action segment, which shows the Kratt brothers feeding alligators of various ages. The baby alligator was fed a dragonfly, the week-old alligator ate a small fish, and the biggest alligator got the biggest fish. Afterwards, they ask their "What if?" question and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
Along the banks of a river in Uganda, Africa, the Kratt brothers hide as a mother crocodile comes ashore and begins laying eggs. The Kratt brothers are doing this because they want to prove what they know about them to fellow teammate Aviva, who thinks that crocodiles are just cold-blooded monsters that will snap at anything. After miniaturizing, the brothers near the crocodile, which Martin names Crocodilla. They then enter Crocodilla’s nest after she buries the eggs and packs them in. Once inside, Martin begins naming some of the to-be crocodiles: Crunch, Chomp, Munch, Snap, Jaws, and Fred. Suddenly, Crocodilla is nowhere to be found, and a hungry monitor lizard digs into the nest and steals Fred. Aviva is really upset about this, even after Crocodilla shows up from the water and chases the lizard away, making it drop Fred. Martin jumps out of the nest to roll Fred back inside the nest before it gets covered back up again by Crocodilla.
Weeks, and eventually months, pass, and Aviva finally begins to admit that crocodiles are dedicated mothers, since Crocodilla did not budge from her nest; that is, until Crocodilla heads off to the river with Chris on her back. Along the way there is a quick run in with a bull hippo, which makes a charge for Crocodilla, who evades it. This incident ironically inspires Aviva to build something to "Keep these crocs in line", which annoys Koki and Jimmy. Meanwhile, Martin discovers that one of the to-be crocodiles, Fred, is a female. He finds out that the reason why Fred and all the rest of the to-be crocodiles are female is that the temperature of the nest influences them to develop into females, so Martin gives them new names: Crunchina, Chompella, Munchette, Snapifer, Jawsana and Frederica. But then, a soft-shelled turtle digs up the nest in order to lay its own eggs in it. Crocodilla sees this and chases the turtle away just after it finishes laying its eggs. Soon after, the Kratt brothers report that the crocodile and soft-shell turtle eggs are hatching. Crocodilla hears their chirping sounds and opens the nest, but things take a strange turn when she starts taking in mouthfuls of hatchlings. This horrifies Aviva because she thinks that Crocodilla is cannibalizing her own young. But the brothers assure her that she is only carrying them in her mouth. Crocodilla takes her hatchings, the soft-shell turtles, and the Kratt brothers to the water. It is this that finally truly convinces Aviva that crocodile moms "are the coolest". But trouble is not over yet, as a certain old enemy returns and crawls their way to hunt crocodile hatchlings. With Crocodilla picking up the remaining hatchlings, the Kratt brothers activate Gharial Powers to fill in for her. They manage to fend off the monitor lizard and some other predators, including a marabou stork and a honey badger, but they soon revert back to human form, when the transformation refuses to hold up for much longer. Crocodilla returns to find the two with her babies. Following her protective instincts she charges at them, but luckily, Aviva arrives to pick up the Kratts in her newest invention: the Hippo Sub. In the end, the gang summarizes their adventure, and Aviva says that she now loves crocodiles and finally regrets rudely judging them beforehand. And Chris and Martin then help Frederica and her sisters practice for adulthood by having them test their hunting skills on them in Dragonfly Power Suits.
The show transitions into the ending live action segment, in which the Kratt brothers place some ball python eggs into an incubator, which later hatch. Afterwards, they conclude the episode by saying "Keep on creature adventuring; we’ll see you on the creature trail!"
Characters[]
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
- Nile Crocodile: Crocodilla, Chompella, Crunchina, Jawsana, Munchette, Snapifer, Frederica
- Hippopotamus
- Marabou Stork
- Nile Monitor (called Monitor lizard)
- African Softshell Turtle (called Softshell turte)
- Honey Badger
- Flame-tipped Jewel (called Dragonfly)
Live Action[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold, live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- American alligator
- Ball python
- Needman's skimmer (called Dragonfly)
- Black caiman
Trivia[]
- The Kratt brothers use the Miniaturizer to shrink, but Aviva does not invent the Miniaturizer until the episode "Mystery of the Squirmy Wormy". It's likely that the episode served as a prequel to this one.
- The Kratt brothers mentioned Aviva making Gharial Crocodile Discs while they were creature adventuring in Asia. This could be a reference to the episode "Kerhonk". It's also likely that "Kerhonk" serves as a prequel to "Mom of a Croc".
- The scenes of the caimans in the opening live action sequence were reused from an episode of the Kratt Brothers' previous show "Be the Creature": "The Pantanal".
- This is the first time a Wild Kratts member (i.e. Aviva) speaks negatively of a creature.
- Aviva has a disliking for crocodiles, but it is later diminished after she realizes her mistake of judging before getting to know them.
- It is unknown if Aviva had a bad experience with crocodiles.
- Although "Polar Bears Don't Dance" is the first episode to be produced, Mom of a Croc is the first episode of the series to be released on PBS Kids.
- This is the first appearance of the Hippo Sub.
- This is the first appearance of the Creature Power Suits and the Tortuga HQ, although the Creature Power Suits were technically introduced in Polar Bears Don't Dance, which was the first produced episode.
- This is the first of several times any creatures are renamed.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Nile crocodiles can grow over 20 feet long and are one of the two largest crocodiles in the world, second only to the Saltwater Crocodile.
- They can have up to 64 dagger teeth.
- When a mother crocodile is laying her eggs, she goes into a special trance where she doesn't notice what's going on in her surroundings.
- Only about half of her eggs usually survive the predators, so they guard their nest day in and day out for months while the eggs develop.
- Nile crocodiles are cold blooded. Their bodies take on whatever temperature is around them. So when they get too hot, a croc has no choice but to cool off in the water to survive.
- Crocodiles become girls or boys based on how hot or cold the eggs are. If the nest is 88 °F to 93 °F, they grow into boys. If it is colder or warmer than that, they grow into girls.
- Sometimes, a softshell turtle will lay its eggs in a Nile crocodile nest chamber, because the eggs will be protected by the mother croc.
- When baby crocodiles hatched, they make a sound to call their mom from underneath the sand.
- Mother crocodiles pick their young ones up by using their mouth. They are extra careful because of how sharp their teeth are.
- Mother crocodiles put their young ones in the creche, a kind of nursery pool for crocodiles.