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(Part 2) Florida's Most Recognizable Reptile: the American Alligator

This episode is the second half of our discussion on the American alligator. This episode will focus on busting common myths and highlighting key ways we can learn to coexist with this critically important species.

Episode Transcript:

SHANNON:
This is the second half of a two-part series on Florida's most recognizable reptile, the American alligator. On this episode, you'll hear common alligator myths and the truth behind them, as well as some information about nuisance alligators and what you should do if you're approached by an aggressive alligator.

LARA:
Welcome to “Naturally Florida,” a podcast about Florida's natural areas and the wild things that live here. I'm Lara Milligan.

SHANNON:
And I'm Shannon Carnevale.

LARA:
This podcast is brought to you by UF/IFAS Extension in Polk and Pinellas Counties.

SHANNON:
I feel like this is a great time to talk about some common alligator myths or questions that we regularly get from our clientele. So, Lara, what is—you already said that size is the biggest question you get—but what’s another common question you get?

LARA:
Well, really with all wildlife, one thing I always get asked is like, “Can they climb a fence?”

SHANNON:
Oh, yeah. I get that question all the time. And I think it's because we have so many lakes and so many lakefront residents. People move in and they're like, “So if I put a four-foot fence up, I'm good right? Like I can let my dog and my toddler out and it won't be a big deal?”

LARA:
So, yeah. And there's actually some really, really cool YouTube videos that show four- foot alligators having no problem scaling a chain-link fence.

SHANNON:
There are some really crazy videos on YouTube about alligators scaling fences. In fact, we're going to link to one of them in our show notes today. So if you would like to see a big ol’ boy climb up over a six-foot fence like it was nothing, go check our show notes. We're going to put a link to a news report that showed a video taken in Jacksonville of an alligator climbing a fence—a big alligator.

LARA:
(LAUGHS) Yeah, it was crazy!

SHANNON:
Yeah, very crazy video. If you happen to be on YouTube and see other videos of alligators climbing over the fence, just know that a lot of those involve harassing the alligator. And that's not cool. We don't want to do that. For one, it's illegal. For two, it’s dangerous for you and the alligator. So please don't. But we will include that one that we were just talking about.

And you should definitely go take a look at that. Now that we're talking about going to take a look at a video, though, that reminds me of another myth I hear a lot, Lara, which is that alligators can't see real well. Do you get that one?

LARA:
I honestly don't get that one that much. I've heard that before. And I think, you know, we talked all about hunting before and how good they are at that, which right there proves that that is a total, total myth.

SHANNON:
Yeah. And then when I'm talking with a group of residents or even kids, I tell them to picture an alligator head—you know, how their eyes are up on top of their head.

LARA:
Mm hmm.

SHANNON:
That’s so that they can hang out in the water and keep an eye out looking for prey or, like you mentioned, other alligators that might come to attack them. So, in general, just know that the poor eyesight thing…myth busted!

LARA:
(LAUGHS) Yeah. And there's some super cool things about their eyes we might talk about at the end if you guys are lucky. So stay tuned. But we did want to bust one last myth, which is the traditional one you probably always heard, which is if you were chased by an alligator, you run in a zigzag pattern.

SHANNON:
(LAUGHS) Yeah, I got this one all the time in school. Like, I remember very vividly learning about this, but it makes no sense.

LARA:
(LAUGHS) I know. I want to know who came up with this.

SHANNON:
I mean, think about it, Lara. If you're running in a zigzag pattern and I'm trying to catch you, what am I going to do?

LARA:
(LAUGHS) Hopefully you're just going to run straight at me.

SHANNON:
I'm just going to run straight at you because you're running twice as far and getting not very actually distance far away from me. So, first of all, I want to say it's going to be super, super rare to actually be chased by an alligator unprovoked. Now, if you're provoking him, all bets are off. But if you do get chased—on the super rare occasion you do—you just want to run as fast as you can for a good long distance in a straight pattern. Don't try this zigzag nonsense.

LARA:
Straight. (LAUGHS)

SHANNON:
Go straight. Just run as fast as you can as far as you can, because alligators are a lot faster than they look. They have a reputation for being real lazy and slow, but on land, they can get up to seven and a half or nine miles per hour, so you can probably outrun them. It's going to be close over the very short distance.

Now that brings up another question I get, Lara, which is “Can I swim faster than an alligator?"

LARA:
Yeah, that would be my bigger fear (LAUGHS) like in the water.

SHANNON:
For sure. I don't think most people think they could outswim an alligator, but we actually couldn't find a lot of speed documented for alligators in the water. But crocodiles have been clocked at as much as ten miles per hour. And to give you a good idea as to why it is such a bad idea to be caught in the water with an alligator who's chasing you, our U.S. superstar Caleb Dressel—who just got the gold medal for the 50-meter freestyle at the Olympics—he swims at five and a half miles per hour.

So alligators are twice as fast as Caleb Dressel. So we have no hope. (LAUGHS) None whatsoever. So just don't get caught in the water with an aggressive alligator.

LARA:
Yeah. And I think that's actually a really good segue into talking about kind of ways that we can coexist with alligators and hopefully not get caught in these situations. You know, Shannon obviously said if you're provoking or harassing an alligator in any way, shape or form, all bets are off. So we're going to teach you how to not get in this situation.

And that starts off with never feeding alligators. And they're like, no, they don't like marshmallows. Like believe it or not, they don’t.

SHANNON:
Hmm. They love marshmallows, (LAUGHTER) but we shouldn't give them marshmallows.

LARA:
True. This is true. You are correct.

SHANNON:
Oh, man. It is illegal to feed an alligator. It's not just us telling you don't do it, but there's good reason behind this. And we're not just talking about throwing chicken at an alligator like you might have seen on the “Today Show.” We're also talking about indirectly feeding them.

So if you go fishing and you cut out the fish guts and you prepare your filets at the dock, if you're throwing your scraps in the water, you're indirectly feeding an alligator and they will come and find that. And then it becomes a pattern. So never feed an alligator. It makes them associate us with food. And that is not something that I want to deal with.

LARA:
No, definitely not. And yeah, in general, like Shannon mentioned before, anywhere there's fresh water really is a chance that there is an alligator nearby. And so we just encourage you to be really cautious any time you're doing anything near the edge of water, especially freshwater. So if you like to go swimming in your lake or pond—if you know there's alligators there—like maybe you just try not to go at dawn and dusk when alligators are most active and looking for food.

SHANNON:
Right. And then think about their prey. If there are a lot of critters around that look like what large alligators eat and there are known large alligators in that water body, definitely don't swim there. And so that's why FWC does recommend you do not swim with your dog, as much fun as that can be. If you are in fresh water, never swim with your dog because the dog's paddling action could draw in an alligator thinking it's a prey item.

LARA:
Yeah. And even that goes further along the water's edge, too. Like if you have small children or your pets are near the water's edge—again, especially at dawn and dusk— like that's just a recipe for possibly bad things to happen, which we don't want to do that.

So, and Shannon mentioned to you before about, like, feeding alligators and them
associating us with food. And one thing I always like to stress when I talk about nuisance wildlife species is like the only reason they become a nuisance is because of us usually.

So, and unfortunately with alligators, when somebody calls in to report a nuisance alligator—which we’ll tell you how to do in a second—you know, those animals are killed. They're not relocated. And so it's like if we can just stop that from the beginning by not feeding wildlife, then I think it's really just a win-win for everybody.

SHANNON:
A nuisance alligator has a working definition with Florida Fish and Wildlife. So typically what they're looking for if you call in a nuisance alligator, is that it needs to be at least four feet in length and it needs to be believed to pose a threat to people, pets or property. And the reason that four-foot length is important is anything less than four feet really isn't a threat to people.

If we remember their prey items, a four-foot alligator is not going to go after a person. It might go after a very, very small dog or something or a cat or something of that nature. But a four-foot alligator is eating very little things. So what they would look for is an alligator that's demonstrating behavior that illustrates it's a threat.

So maybe it's coming up to people or it's chasing the fish that you're catching or it's following you and your dog as you walk around the lake.

LARA:
Or it's in your swimming pool. (LAUGHTER)

SHANNON:
Right. And they also don't want to kill gators unnecessarily. And that's why they do put those requirements on the nuisance alligator program. Seeing an alligator—Lara, this is something I always tell my groups when I do an alligator talk—seeing an alligator is not a conflict. An alligator existing in its habitat is not a nuisance.

It has to be dangerous to be a nuisance or be thought to become dangerous to be a nuisance.

LARA:
Right.

SHANNON:
So I think people should be excited when they see alligators and then decide not to jump off the boat. You know, that's what I say.

LARA:
Okay. Yeah. So if by chance you do encounter an alligator that meets this criteria that Shannon just outlined as a nuisance alligator, you can either there's a number you can call or a website you can visit. The number—if you're good with numbers—it’s 866-FWC-GATOR. Or the website is myfwc.com/alligator. And we will include both of those in the show notes for you guys to reference.

SHANNON:
Calling it a nuisance alligator is something that might make you uncomfortable, but it is entirely appropriate if the alligator is, you know, causing a threat to you, your pets or your property. My neighbor just had to call in a nuisance alligator, Lara.

LARA:
Yeah.

SHANNON:
And it, yeah, was uncomfortable for everyone because nobody wants the alligator to get killed. But the night before—around 10 o’clock at night—he was outside with his dog. We live right on the water, and we have a little seawall on our part of the lake because we're right by a canal. And his dog was acting real weird by the water's edge.

Normally, she gets up on the seawall and looks out, looks at the birds and fish. But this time, she was kind of cautious and was growling a little bit, and he couldn't figure out why. And she got closer to the seawall and a big gator jumped up and snapped at her. She was fine. The dog was good.

(LAUGHS) My neighbor was very, very spooked. Took her inside right away—I don't even think she got to go to the bathroom that night. (LAUGHTER) But they called the nuisance alligator line as soon as they got back inside. So it was like 10:30, 11:00 at night, like I said. Called the phone number. Spoke to a law enforcement officer. They had a trapper out the next day.

And within 24 hours, they had pulled out a nine and a half foot alligator and a six foot alligator. And they were satisfied that they got the one that was causing the aggressive issue. But we said, don't call if they're just there. But if they're there and causing any kind of threat, please call. Better for everyone.

LARA:
Yeah, they’ll handle the details like when you make the call. They're not just going to be like, you know, accept your word. They're going to ask lots of questions before they pursue any type of action.

Yeah. And that reminds me, ugh, I’m like scared for your neighbor because…horrifying experience. But so I guess I kind of get it when, like, I went to a conference a couple of years ago up in Indiana, and I got Uber to my hotel. And, you know, the guy was like, “Oh, where’d you come from?”

And I'm like, “ Florida.” And he's like, “Do you guys have alligators there?” I'm like, “Really, like, that's your first thought—is, like, we have alligators?” And he was just so horrified. He's like, “I'd never go there because you guys have alligators.” And I'm like, “Okay, this is probably what most people outside of Florida think.”

And so, Shannon and I were doing some research on, like, the latest statistics, you know, about alligators. Of course when something happens, it's all up in the news. But the latest data that we could find up to 2019 going back 71 years, there was only 25 documented deaths over 71 years worth of data.

SHANNON:
So uncommon. Thankfully.

LARA:
Yeah. They put it into into a number that it's basically like one in 3.1 million chances that you would be seriously injured during what they call an unprovoked alligator incident. So very, very rare. And, of course if you are doing the things that we mentioned to be extra cautious when you're in potential alligator territory, then your risks are probably even less than that.

SHANNON:
Yeah. So to transition to something a little bit more lighthearted and fun for the end of our episode, Lara, and I wanted to talk about an activity that I think all the schoolchildren in Florida have done at some point on a field trip. Lara, what is that activity I'm thinking of?

LARA:
Eye-shine!

SHANNON:
Eye-shining. It's so much fun!

So if you have not done this before, highly recommend you find a safe place to do it. So a park or a fishing pier or a dock on freshwater. It's so simple. You just take a flashlight, hold it up at eye level and look out on the water. And what do you think they'll see, Lara?

LARA:
Darkness. (LAUGHTER) No! A bunch of alligator eyes reflecting back at them!

SHANNON:
Yes.

LARA:
Maybe.

SHANNON:
That’s true. Hopefully.

LARA:
Maybe hopefully, depending who you are.

SHANNON:
Yeah, it depends on your perspective, but it's super cool, especially if you're up on a dock and you're safe. Alligator eyes will reflect back red. And so that also doesn't help their reputation. (LAUGHTER) But it it's really cool because if you're out there during the day and you're like, you know, “I saw an alligator on the bank.” But when you go out at night and you can see how many alligators there really are—they’ll all just be hanging out and you can see their eyes reflecting back.

If you're in Gainesville or up on UF’s campus and you really want to see the mascot, I highly recommend going to the bat houses over on Lake Alice. Go watch the bats come out and then go eye-shine over on Lake Alice right across the street. You will see, gosh, tens if not 20 or 30 or 40 alligators. It really depends on the night, but if you're in there in the summer, you'll see a ton of them.

LARA:
Yeah.

SHANNON:
So that was just something Lara and I wanted to bring up—a fun activity to peacefully (LAUGHTER) observe an alligator at night from a safe distance. But we thought that would be a good way to end that episode. So anything else you want to share, Lara?

LARA:
I don't think so. But I hope that we calmed some people's nerves about alligators. And they really, really are fascinating creatures. So just enjoy them from a safe distance and share this episode with a friend.

SHANNON:
Thanks for listening to “Naturally Florida,” a podcast about Florida's natural areas and the wild things that live here. Stay updated on new episodes by subscribing on your favorite podcast platform. If you enjoyed today's episode, consider sharing it with a friend. “Naturally Florida” is produced by your hosts, Shannon Carnevale

LARA:
And Lara Milligan.

SHANNON:
If you have questions or suggestions, submit them online at naturallyfloridapodcast.com. This podcast is brought to you by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, an Equal Opportunity Institution. Thank you for listening.

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