Emily Stone copper crocodile sculpture Leeds castle long

Emily Stone copper crocodile sculpture Leeds castle

My crocodile was the result of a burst of enthusiasm following a rare holiday. I met one in a zoo in Tenerife, and I was so taken with this left-over reptile from before the age of the dinosaurs that I had to create one when I came home.
He is huge, over 12 feet (360cm) in length, and it was great fun endowing him with aggressive teeth and spiky triangles all down his back. The splayed feet really are as simple as they are shown, and the side-projecting legs not very efficient at walking. The jaws have no sideways movement for chewing; he can only chomp open-shut, and must spin his whole body in order to tear pieces off his kill. This is a primitive beast.

This sculpture has improved greatly with age. He now looks like a Jurassic monster, with his weatherbeaten patina.

Life-size (360cm) £5850; medium (120cm) £2850; small (40cm) £575.