I suppose I should add that the planned croc is going to be paper mache, mostly because (good) taxidermy is expensive. (The fact that I already own a lot of creepy decor is a secondary thought.) You'd think that this might have something to do with the fact that I used to live in Louisiana in a wildlife area that put gators (I know, not the same as crocs, bear with me) right around the corner from my house. But no - this is thanks to reading many history books and continually finding references to or illustrations of "stuffed crocodiles" hanging from the ceilings of homes of the nobility or inside churches. You'd find a vague reference here and there as to why (never more than a few paragraphs) - I never did manage to find a full book on the subject. Because yes, that's the kind of thing I always have kept my eyes open for.

Today I was reminded about The Stuffed Crocodile by reading - and yet again I can blame A Traveller in Italy - this (p 338) quote, from the chapter on Venice:

"S. Theodore's statue may be seen on one of the two columns in the Piazzetta in the act of spearing a crocodile, which symbolizes Evil."

Venice is known for having Saint Mark as its patron saint - but apparently the city was wildly fickle, because once that saint was Theodore. So instead of having all those winged lions (which are awesome, seriously, as a child I loved looking at those in coffee table art books) all over Venice we'd have Theo fighting off a croc. It's worth a moment of pondering just to imagine the change of artwork.

Columns of Saint Mark and Saint Theodore (in which you only see Theo from the back, eyeroll)

Better photo - and yes, that looks like a dragon, not a croc. They were sort of interchangeable in some of the art. Also note, Peter Ackroyd quote! I need to read his book on Venice!)

I'd not googled for info on stuffed crocodile (and why they were hung all over the place) in a while, but this time I found much more information. In fact, here's 6min of video that answers all my questions. (And of course, more links after the page break, because I never can resist.)

The Inaugural Stuffed Crocodile - Idols Of The Cave (YouTube, 6min)