The Fraternity of Crocodiles (Debut: February 5, 2002) are the main antagonists of the strip, described by Pastis as "inept and inarticulate neighbours" of Zebra[1] and while they are indeed on very poor terms with all five main characters (with the possible occasional exception of Rat), they are usually involved in various attempts to kill and eat Zebra, all of which fail. The fraternity name is "Zeeba Zeeba Eata" (although one of them called it "Zeta, Zeta, Epsilon" in their first appearance in a botched attempt to fool Zebra). They have very bad grammar, and also have an expanded and a slightly smaller font size.
Crocodile family[]
In addition to the Zeeba Zeeba Eata fraternity of crocodiles, there is a separate family of crocodiles that live in the neighborhood and are also neighbors to Zebra. The family consists of Larry, his wife Patty, and their son Junior (originally named Billy).

The prayers of a crocodile.
Larry and his pals (such as Burt, Jojo, Bob etc.) are a group typical dumb crocodiles in the strip, speaking in the same language as the fraternity ("Croc-ese", which is actually the reader's own language spoken with exceptionally improper grammar and spelling), which he is often seen with plotting to kill Zebra. By contrast, both his wife and son are intelligent, with Junior being particularly gifted. Also, Larry seems to have come from a well to do family ; his parents speaking impeccable English .In one strip, It is shown they had spent a huge amount on Larry's education which he instead spent on a closet full of beer. Larry is (or at least was) a huge fan of the Wii and tried to encourage his son to drop out of school so he could play with him. He is also very childish, appearing when ever Simon says to do so, and is easily convinced to do stupid things such as when he stapled his head to a wall on a bet and shut off Zebra's water pipes in an attempt to force Zebra to drink from the fraternity's swamp, unaware that Zebra bought his water from Sparkletts. And sometimes he is shown not to care about his wife, Patty because in one series of strips, Zebra kidnaps Patty for a peace proposal with Larry and he is shown happy because of this (although, Zebra did return her). Larry was "eaten" by dolphins on January 18, 2013 and secretly escaped. He was later eaten by a shark on May 21, 2013. He then reincarnated as a crab and was eaten by Zebra on May 22, 2013. He reincarnated again as Jeffy from Family Circus on May 22, 2013 as well.
Patty is a housewife with a beehive hairdo who loves both her husband (although, she did once leave Larry because she thinks he's a failure because he has not killed Zebra) and son, although she is continually frustrated with her husband's failed attempts to kill Zebra – which more often than not, result in Larry being forced to go to Kentucky Fried Chicken and purchase food, which he eats by himself in shame (although Patty does do some grocery shopping and Larry once stole a frozen zebra from a pair of male lions that also moved into the neighborhood, which he claimed to catch). Also she, like Junior, does not speak Croc-ese (although, she used to at her start on the strip). In one strip, she changed her hairdo simply so it wouldn't cover the speech bubbles.
Junior (in one strip, his name was Billy) is the most intelligent and perhaps most refined member of his family. He is a vegetarian who can't understand why his father constantly wants to kill Zebra, believes that crocodiles should wear clothes because being naked is undignified, and is friends with his neighbor. Despite all his faults, Junior loves his father as well as his mother, but infuriates them with one small action- his love for a zebra (specifically, Zebra's niece, of whom he dated). Surprisingly, despite her attitude, Patty is much more offended about this than Larry, considering it an embarrassment to her family and believing that simply grounding him will cause him to stop (although all it did was cause Junior to run away) However, it is expressed that Larry and Patty do not like Junior being a vegetarian, with Larry telling Zebra that Junior was "a big disappointment".
References[]
- ↑ "About « Pearls Before Swine". Stephanpastis.wordpress.com. http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/about/. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
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