A Huge Gator Had Caught An Alligator Five Or Six Feet Long
| This was one incident were I had no camera with me to record the scene. The episode that unfolded was a one that I will never forget, and exemplifies the predatory instinct of the alligator. They have no qualms when it comes to selecting a victim. They are cannibals and quite frequently turn on their own kind. I watched in horror and fascination, until finally the wild hog was subdued and the alligator dragged it back in the deeper water. As I watched the bubbles came to the surface of the water, telling that the hog had breathed its last. The Tosohatchee State Reserve is an area that always produces many alligators. Along the Power Plant road east to the St. Johns River, during the early summer months when the water is low, more alligators can be seen in one area than any other place in central Florida. On one afternoon's drive I counted eighty or more alligators in the ditches on each side of the road, including some twenty residing in in the channel of the St. Johns River. |
Most of these alligators were large, many eight feet or longer. A couple probably exceeded twelve feet. When I came to the St. Johns River at the east end of the Power Plant road, looking up and down the river, was reminiscent of scenes of crocodiles in Africa. On the bank in one span of sixty feet, I counted thirteen gators sunning. Sometimes I'm fortunate to have my camera along when a situation unfolds. One such incident also occurred on Black Point Wildlife drive. While driving out on the paved section, before reaching state road 402, I noticed a huge alligator that seemed to have something in its jaws. I stopped the car momentarily and immediately the gator submerged into deeper water. Another car was passing me as I stopped, and they got out to take a look. The gator remained submerged, but I knew it was a situation that I wanted to investigate. I continued driving to the end of the road and turned my car around driving back the wrong direction and pulled off on the berm and parked. |
Page 2 of 4