NUTTY ABOUT NATURE

“See Ya Later, Alligator!” ALLIGATORS ….. part 1

I don’t know about you, but I have always been fascinated by alligators. They, and their cousin the crocodile, have been the stuff of nightmares ever since Captain Hook lost his hand to one of these extremely hungry reptiles in J.M.Barrie’s classic children’s book “Peter Pan”.

While the crocodile is on average larger, more sinister and has a different shaped snout, my concentration today is on the alligator because of its well-known association with Florida (my home base). There are only two living species of alligators, the American alligator and the Chinese. Unlike crocs, alligators prefer fresh water and here in our peninsula state, we have plenty of fresh water ponds, rivers, and canals. Palm Cottage happens to have a canal running along one side of the property where, much to my dismay one day, lay a rather large “gator” sunning himself (or herself) on its banks.

Although the gator I saw was as big as my Mini Cooper, it was not tipping the scales for weight or length. Adult American alligators are between 9 and 15 feet in length and weigh in at 500-1,000 pounds. Wow !! The Chinese variety only grows to about 5 feet…..still a BIG lizard.

Alligators live to be 30 to 50 years of age. Maybe my visitor was a teenager and still had plenty of growing to do. Luckily, the culverts that attach one canal to another are too small for a gigantic gator to navigate……although they do fairly well walking on land…..usually slowly, but still…..tick, tock!

The water is where the gator shows its prowess. With 5 webbed toes on its front legs and 4 on its back legs, the alligator is a phenomenal swimmer. Its eyes, ears and nostrils are on top of its head so it has a perfect view of its prey as it silently glides along the water.

The alligator’s strong and bony-plated tail is half its total length. It can propel him through the water at high speed or whip him around to face an adversary. Strangely enough, gators have a dominant side and are left-handed or right-handed. When our wildlife officers need to relocate a pesky lizard, they will determine which side is dominant by poking him with a stick on each side. Whichever side the gator responds to more slowly when turning around will be the side that is approached for capture.

While alligators normally eat fish, birds, reptiles and some small mammals, they have been known on occasion to eat people’s dogs, cats and people themselves! After all, they are want to make use of those 80 gigantic teeth by munching on Fifi or Fluffy….or Mr.Jones who insisted on feeding them from his back lawn. Gators’ teeth replace themselves when they fall out (similar to sharks) and in one lifetime it is possible for an alligator to be the proud owner of 3,000 teeth.

I was amazed to learn that an alligator mama is a very attentive parent which is rare for reptiles. She lays somewhere between 20 and 70 eggs at a pop and when hatched, the little 6-8″ baby gators stay with her for 2 years. Sadly, only 20% survive being eaten (sometimes by other alligators…yuck), but those that do, continue to grow about 1 foot per year. Good thing people don’t grown at that rate….it’s hard enough keeping kids in shoes!

Lastly, the most unbelievable fact about the American alligator is that it uses tools. Yes, you heard it right. Gators have been known to grab a stick or two in their oversized, toothy pie hole and wait for a bird to perch. Bing, bang, boom and poor Tweety is an appetizer…..or more precisely, appeteaser because Mr. G will still be extremely hungry.

Coming up next, we will take a look at Alligator images used in home décor.

‘Till next time, BB