Go gators!

 A lot of gator activity this week. The paper notes that it’s nice and warm and mating season. So if you’re out at night, for heaven’s sake, don’t make a noise like a female alligator!

We have visitors from the Boston area, my old student Antony Donovan and his partner Jag Patel, and we went off alligator-hunting with them and Lore yesterday. I should note that it’s pretty safe to approach alligators during the daytime, if you don’t do anything aggressive. And you wouldn’t want to get too close to a big one unless he’s resting after a big meal. They look slow but can go 45 miles per hour for short distances. A couple of body lengths, and their bodies can get pretty long.

Lore took a short movie of a cute little one –

http://www.flickr.com/photos/haldechi...

They’re so dinosaur-like . . . or I guess we assume that dinosaurs act crocodilian. But great fun to watch as long as they don’t take a culinary interest in you.

The most recent fatality was interesting . . .

A man fleeing police by jumping into a retention pond adjacent to the Miccosukee Resort and Convention Center was killed by a 9-foot 3-inch (2.8 m) alligator on this date according to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiners office. Padron and an accomplice were suspected of burglarizing cars in the parking lot of the resort which is located at 500 SW 177th St. in southwest Miami-Dade County when police closed in. Witnesses said they could hear Padron's agonized screaming before he disappeared underwater.


I don’t know whether Miami-Dade subsequently dispatched the alligator, or deputized him. A nine-foot gator is not that huge, incidentally. We saw several yesterday in the 12 to 14-foot range. None of them gnawing on human remains, but you never know.

I think they’re among the most beautiful of animals, an absolutely elegant design. They’ve been thriving since before the dinosaurs, and they look very old and wise in their single-digit IQ way.

You don’t see any dinosaurs around, though, and it’s a pretty good bet that you won’t see any humans after awhile. But Albert and his pals will still be gliding along.

Joe