John is a very special croc to us and our team. His story with us first began in 2016 measuring just 1.25 metres (4 feet 1 inch) via a hand capture off the front of the boat! In 2021, after our longest stretch of consecutive days without a single capture, the team spotted some eye shine one evening in a billabong close to camp and decided to try something new by setting up a trap and we ended up catching John! John’s presence in the billabong had been a staple of life at our research base and we’d check every year using our VR-100 technology to make sure he was still in the waterhole. So to our surprise, in 2025, there was no signal from John’s tracker! That is because he had ventured out and he ended up being our very first croc of the 2025 research trip! He was finally large enough for a satellite tracker and we hope to see him again soon!