In J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan stories, a ticking clock warns Captain Hook that the crocodile is near.
The crocodile swallowed a clock after consuming part of Captain Hook’s hand. Because the clock continues ticking inside the animal, Hook can hear the danger approaching before he sees it. The sound becomes one of the most recognizable recurring motifs in the Peter Pan story.
The crocodile is pursuing Hook because Peter Pan cut off Hook’s hand during a fight and fed it to the animal. Barrie’s original stage play presents the ticking as a suspense device, while later films and cartoons often emphasize it with music and visual reaction shots.
The crocodile is sometimes called a clock-eating crocodile, but the essential clue is the ticking clock inside it, not a separate signal from the pirate ship.