During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Irwin, the son of the late Steve Irwin, recalled the moment he was pinned by what he described as a “boss croc” after jumping onto its back.
He explained that the move was part of crocodile research. The process involves getting onto the animal’s back and holding its jaws shut, since the muscles that close a crocodile’s mouth are incredibly strong, while the muscles that open it are much weaker.
“I jumped onto him. I kid you not, 14 foot of crocodile, big croc, death rolls me. So I’m stuck underneath him with my arm hanging out.”
“I’ve got like probably, I don’t know, maybe 700 pounds on top of me. And I’m just like, ‘What do I do?’ Luckily, he rolled back the other way, and I was fine. But he’s a goer.”
The video shows how the animal can clamp down with its jaws, then rotate its whole body to twist, tear, or break away flesh. It is one of the reasons crocodiles are so feared once they get a firm grip.
The clip also gives one grim survival tip: if someone is caught by a crocodile or alligator during a roll, they should try to rotate in the same direction as the animal, because that may reduce the twisting force on the body.
A person would have to stay aware enough to know which way the animal is rolling, then move with it while also trying not to panic.
That is why experts stress that the safest option is always to avoid getting close to crocodiles or alligators in the first place, especially near water where they have the biggest advantage.
Why do crocodiles death roll?
If you have ever looked closely at a crocodile’s mouth, preferably from a safe distance, you may have noticed that its teeth are not built for chewing in the way human teeth are.
A crocodile has an extremely powerful bite, but it cannot slice food into neat pieces or chew through flesh like a mammal. Its teeth are better suited for grabbing prey, holding on, and making escape almost impossible.
Unlike big cats, crocodiles also cannot use strong front limbs and claws to pin prey down while tearing at it. Instead, they rely on their jaws, body weight, and the water around them to do most of the work.
A crocodilian can grip part of an animal in its jaws, then spin its body again and again along its own length. That twisting motion can tear away flesh or help break down a larger animal into pieces it can swallow.
The move is so powerful that even a smaller crocodilian could cause devastating injuries to a person if it managed to get a secure bite.
Some scientists have suggested that the so-called death roll may also play a role in fights between crocodilians, where one animal bites another and rolls to injure it or break free.
That makes the behavior even more interesting, because it may not have started only as a way to tear up prey. It could also be linked to survival during combat with other powerful reptiles.
Drumheller has argued that the behavior may be better understood as a “combat roll” in some cases, especially when looking at fossil evidence showing crocodylians with bite marks on their heads, legs, and tails.
In other words, the death roll may have helped ancient crocodylians fight, injure rivals, or escape from dangerous bites long before people started thinking of it only as a feeding move.
It is one of those animal behaviors that sounds dramatic until you realize it is even more intense in real life.
And after Irwin’s story, it is clear that even people who spend their lives around crocodiles can still end up in trouble when one decides to roll.
