What did the crocodile swallow that makes a ticking sound?

The crocodile swallowed a clock, whose ticking sound warns Captain Hook that it is nearby.

In Peter Pan, the crocodile previously ate Captain Hook’s severed hand. It also swallowed a clock, and the persistent ticking lets Hook hear the creature approaching before he sees it. The sound becomes a recurring comic but threatening motif whenever Hook is in danger.

The ticking clock is more than a random object: it gives the crocodile a distinctive identity and turns timekeeping into suspense. Hook is terrified because he knows the crocodile wants to finish eating him, while the ticking makes its pursuit feel inevitable. In the 1953 animated film, the crocodile repeatedly chases Hook around Never Land and eventually pursues him after he falls into the sea.

Viewers sometimes answer “a watch” because a watch also ticks, but the film’s familiar Peter Pan detail is specifically a clock. The crocodile’s ticking also connects the scene to the story’s broader imagery of time, growing up, and Hook’s fear of death.