Do Central Queensland's crocodiles know as much as State's weather forecasters?
If you believe some, yes they do, and apparently we're in for a better than average wet season, based on the fact the female crocs at the Capricorn Coast's Koorana Crocodile Farm near Rockhampton, have started building some bigger than usual nests to lay their sizeable clutches of eggs in.
Of the 55 breeding females expected to build nests this year, six have so far built their nests and Koorana Crocodile Farm owner, John Lever, has confirmed that his "girls" have built some considerably larger nests.
"Rain stirs them up sexually, it's a night-time activity, and thunder and lightning is an aphrodesiac for crocs.
"We expect very, very high fertility rates so far - most nests we have checked have got over 60 eggs in them, and the average is 50.1 eggs.
"Large clutch size, high fertility and bigger nests are all due to the weather."
Koorana, which is a commercial croc farm, removes the eggs from the nests and puts them in an incubator to maintain temperature and ensure a high hatching and survival rate.
With first-grade croc skin selling for US$20 per centimetre, it's easy to see why.
Koorana sells skins to companies including R.M.Williams for leathergoods, and exports overseas to supply to the likes of Italian fashion and leather goods label, Gucci.
The farm is home to 3000 crocs and produces between 1000 and 1500 crocs annually, depending on the season, with the crocs processed at three years of age, and between 1.8 metres to two metres in length.
But the final word on the outlook for summer rain must go to a human expert in the field.
Dave McRae from the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence, said based on the monthly Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) values recorded for October of plus 14.2 and for November of plus 17.4, the SOI has remained in a consistently positive phase.
An analysis of historical rainfall records and a consistently positive SOI phase at the end of November, indicate a reasonable 60-80pc chance of getting above median rainfall during December through to the end of February throughout the eastern third of Queensland (east of a line running from the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria through to the central Darling Downs).
Meanwhile, there is a 40 to 60pc chance of getting above median rainfall for December to February throughout the rest of the State.