originally posted 01 NOV 2014
I have to admit, this California girl is fascinated with the gators
here in Florida. I was told when we moved her that if it is a body of
natural water, assume there is a gator in it and I have.
I can see why some people grow complacent. When we see a gator, he is
usually basking along the side of the pond mid afternoon. Sometimes
they have turtles crawling over their bodies or birds walking right by
them. I've gotten good at spotting their eyes above the water as well.
They do come across as docile.
However, awhile back, I had a good reminder why I tell my kids to stay away from the ponds and the creek behind our house.
We were driving by one of the ponds down the street from our home and
we played our usual 'Spot the Gator' game. As we were driving and
looking, we saw a HUGE splash and then thrashing on the bank of the
pond. The gator was killing something and it was a large something. He
was flipping it around and thrashing all over the place. We were on the
other side of the pond so we stopped to watch. He dragged the critter
into the pond and kept holding it under water. Whatever it was was
trying to escape but that gator kept at it. Eventually, the critter
stopped struggling. The gator swam around the pond with it and then
brought it over to our side of the pond. We clearly saw it had long
yellow teeth but could not longer tell what it was.
Came home and googled it. It was a nutria (see photo above), a
beaver-like rodent that is semi aquatic. This one looked like it could
easily have weight 15 to 20 lbs.
Watching the gator that day gave me a new found respect for gators that day. We respect them from a safe distance.
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