Alligator Hunt
The earliest alligators came into being on this earth about 180-million years ago and the alligators we have today, though much smaller and about 150-million years younger than their ancestors, are about as close to a dinosaur as we can get. The name "alligator" is most likely an anglicized form of el lagarto, Spanish for "the lizard" from when the first Europeans, the Spanish, to enter the New World encountered alligators for the first time as they colonized the Americas. It is estimated over a million alligators in Florida. That's about one alligator for every 9-people living in Florida. Florida is the only place in the US that alligators and the American Saltwater Crocodile live side-by-side though only in most southern part of Florida to include the Coastal Everglades and the Florida Keys. For an animal whose brain couldn't fill a tablespoon it sure seems to get real smart around hunting season. Of course, during the year especially in the winter in Florida it seems like alligators are everywhere. Part of the reason for that is as the winter dry season takes place and water levels drop alligators will congregate in canals and ponds that have water year round. Right now during hunting season, water levels are at their highest for the year allowing alligators to disperse over a wide area of flooded land and the marshy areas of Everglades and Lake Okeechobee. This coupled with their awareness of being hunted makes them a little more scarce and a lot more timid and therefore harder to find and hunt.
Photo by Jody Moore - all rights reserved