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Alligators!

Florida is the land of gators, and I have to admit, I am semi-freaked out by them!  They are very prehistoric looking, and I’m not convinced their thought processes are much more complicated than “see-kill-eat”!  Still, I also found myself fascinated by them.  Plus, they really do live in a pretty beautiful environment……

Tropical Home

We didn’t really see a lot of gators until we reached Big Cypress.  Then, we explored along one scenic road, and they were there to be found at almost every culvert we drove over, and there were a lot.  This road cut thru some cypress strands and the alligators could be found just sort of hanging about in the water….

Reflective Portrait

Sometimes, if we didn’t look closely, we could very well miss them.  They would just be in the water, very still, sort of hanging in suspended animation, and sort of blend in with the reflections in the water…..

Floating

Originally, this guy was just below where I was standing on the road.  He really didn’t want to be that close to me and Jeff, who was right next to me, so he sort of slowly glided away.  I was fascinated by the fact that he really just used his tail to move – his legs just sort of hung down in a completely relaxed pose.  This image is of him on the far end of the opening of water as he was making a sort of lazy loop around the open water.  You can get an idea of how long he is and see how he was using his tail.  If you look closely, you can see how his front and rear legs are just hanging there……

Suspended

This is the same guy, finishing his loop and coming back to his original resting place.  You get a better look at how his legs are just resting, hanging there.  Actually, his body is totally suspended in the water.  We didn’t stay around much after this, because I kind of got the idea he was getting rather irritated with us still being there…….and the last thing I wanted to do was to irritate a gator!

Mama Gator

Altho this isn’t the best shot of a gator, it does give you a rather face on view of one, and check out her teeth.  How do I know this is a mama gator?  Well, she’s sort of resting on what I think of as a nest, and there were several baby gators swimming around…..

Resting

….or resting on small branches.  The baby gators seemed to be about 6” – 8” long, altho I didn’t dare get too close (thank goodness for zoom lenses!)!  We found out that gators are born about 6” long, and grow about a foot per year for the next 5 years.  Their growth then slows, altho they do continue to grow.  I believe we heard the longest gator in Florida was/is about 19 feet long – eeek!  Also interestingly, a mama gator may have 60 – 80 baby gators at a time, but of that number, only 2-3 will make it to adulthood.

Jeff and the Gator

Another place we saw some gators was on a sort of nature walk on a board walk thru a beautiful cypress strand.  At the end of the boardwalk was an opening where we saw a number of different wildlife, including this smallish gator.  I couldn’t resist this shot of Jeff with the gator lazily gliding under him and the boardwalk.

Hanging Out in the Grove

Another place we saw a few gators was on the airboat ride thru the mangroves.  This guy was a bit curious and came by to check us out……perhaps to see what might be on the menu, should our boat have turned over.

Gator in the Grass

We also saw a few when we were on the airboat ride thru the wet grasslands.  This guy was sort of sunning himself while laying on top of the grass.  Is this where they got the idea that too much sun will make your skin look like an alligator?

Hidden Gator

This is almost the scariest image that I have of a gator, hidden in the wet grassland.  You can see part of his back in sort of the middle of the image.  I think of it as the scariest because it gives you an idea of how they can sort of hide in (almost) plain sight, and be right on top of you before you’re even aware of them.  Creepy.

Enjoy (the fact that you didn’t fall in or get tipped into the water)!