Josephine Baker and the oldest crocodile in the Netherlands

[zwiebel]

In a mysterious story I can't explain, singer Josephine Baker gave a crocodile to Blijorp zoo in the Netherlands (Holland) in the 1930s. He was already an adult then and now, sadly, has just died. He was at least 85 and that made Hakuna the oldest croc in captivity in the world, probably.

Hakuna survived the bombings of WW2 and the loss of his partner, Matata, last year. It's sad he's gone but he must have been lonely.

I read a book about Josephine's travels in Europe, but I can't recall a thing about her traveling with crocs, or gifting them to nice Dutch people. If anyone can shed light on this mystery, I'd love to know!

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archiv...crocodile-in-captivity-dies-at-rotterdam-zoo/

 

[zwiebel]

Here's a pic of Josephine visiting the zoo with 10 of her adopted children.

http://www.gahetna.nl/collectie/afb...ail/q/id/a99a7b74-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84

 

[Elley Mae]

The two American crocodiles were among the few animals in the zoo which survived the bombing of Rotterdam [by Hitler’s air force] in 1940.

https://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/worlds-oldest-crocodile-dies/

 

[zwiebel]

Thanks Elley Mae! I'm still mystified why Josephine had a crocodile in the first place though - she was born in St Louis, Missouri. Not exactly croc country...

 

[JanetElaine]

According to the zoo, it isn't sure the crocs were actually a gift from Baker:

http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/03/06...ste-krokodil-in-europa-overleden-in-blijdorp/

via Google Translate: http://tinyurl.com/qbdpmsp