Below is a brief description of the result categories. While most are self-explanatory, it is useful to know the caveats, assumptions and considerations involved in each so that they can be placed into the proper context.

Simple & Advanced Results table

Details - Select [view] to open the incident page for that record.

Date - The recorded date of the incident. Note that the precision of this may be low if the date is only approximately known, but this is stated on the incident page itself (see below). In some cases the date of the report is the only indicator of the date of the attack, with the assumption made that the attack occurred within the last month. So if the date is known only to the nearest week, month or (in the case of early records) year, the date is set to the middle of the week/month/year and precision set to week/month/year.

Location - The country in which the reported incident took place.

Victim - The reported sex of the victim. If the sex is not mentioned or known, an assumption is made based on the victim's name.

Age - The reported age of the victim, if known.

Outcome - Whether the attack proved to be fatal, non-fatal, or was unknown (usually because it was not stated specifically in the original report).

Species - The species thought to be involved in the attack. The certainty of this value is stated on the incident page, because the species may not always be mentioned (i.e. simply a "crocodile attack") but the location of the incident may make the species fairly obvious. In some cases where more than one species is present within the area, a best guess is made where the species was not specifically reported, and the certainty of this duly noted.

Size (m) - The size of the crocodilian involved in the attack. This value has a precision value attached because the accuracy of this value can be extremely variable. Victims and witnesses often over-estimate the size of the crocodilian responsible, and in some cases no size estimate is available. If the size estimate from witnesses is clearly highly unlikely (e.g. "10 meters") then this field is typically left blank. High precision typically results from reports where the crocodile responsible was captured and measured by authorities, or where an expert was able to estimate the jaw size based on bite marks.

Incident details (on each incident page)

Outcome - Whether the attack proved to be fatal, non-fatal, or was unknown (usually because it was not stated specifically in the original report).

Victim Age - The reported age of the victim, if known.

Sex - The reported sex of the victim. If the sex is not mentioned or known, an assumption is made based on the victim's name.

Activity detail - The reported activity immediately prior to the attack incident. Each incident also contains a simplified (although not shown) activity class drawn from a limited set of variables (e.g. swimming, bathing, fishing) to permit future analysis.

Witnesses - Whether the attack was witnessed, if known. Victim reports can be biased and where witnesses are present a greater number of details are generally known, and witnesses may also be responsible for preventing a fatal attack by rescuing the victim.

Overall quality of report - A subjective assessment made by moderators of how accurate and complete the incident report is, based on the likely accuracy of the source, whether there were witnesses, whether the crocodilian was subsequently captured, whether a coroner's report was involved, etc. Options include "Almost no detail information at all", "Most important information is missing or poorly detailed", "Some important information missing or moderately detailed", "Most important information is present and well-detailed", and "Forensically detailed".

Date - The recorded date of the incident. Note that the precision of this may be low if the date is only approximately known, but this is stated on the incident page itself (see below). In some cases the date of the report is the only indicator of the date of the attack, with the assumption made that the attack occurred within the last month. So if the date is known only to the nearest week, month or (in the case of early records) year, the date is set to the middle of the week/month/year and precision set to week/month/year.

Species - The size of the crocodilian involved in the attack. This value has a precision value attached because the accuracy of this value can be extremely variable. Victims and witnesses often over-estimate the size of the crocodilian responsible, and in some cases no size estimate is available. If the size estimate from witnesses is clearly highly unlikely (e.g. "10 meters") then this field is typically left blank. High precision typically results from reports where the crocodile responsible was captured and measured by authorities, or where an expert was able to estimate the jaw size based on bite marks.

Size (m) - The size of the crocodilian involved in the attack. Size precision indicates the likely accuracy of the size provided by the original source if known. Size reports can be highly variable and often unreliable. Victims and witnesses often over-estimate the size of the crocodilian responsible, and in some cases no size estimate is available. This field is left blank if no size data are available, or if the size provided in the report is clearly unrealistic (e.g "a 10 meter crocodile"). To do otherwise may be highly misleading when these results are viewed in the Results table on the Simple or Advanced search pages. High precision typically results from reports where the crocodile responsible was captured and measured by authorities.

Location scale - The resolution of the location site is provided here, which may be known to the nearest few meters (due to the provision of lat/lon coordinates) or at the other extreme may only be known to have occurred within a particular country. The possible values are listed and colour-coded beside the recorded scale. The included map either shows the exact location of the attack (for "precise" locations) or it shows the midpoint of less accurate areas. For example, if the waterbody is known then the midpoint of this area will be centered on the map.