How Fast Is An Alligator!

 

     Down in West Palm Beach, Florida, Monday, February 20th was a bad day for an 85-year old lady out walking her dog. When they walked past a retention pond her small dog was attacked by a ten foot long, 600-plus pound alligator. When she tried to fight off the alligator it grabbed her into the water where she died; the dog, though injured, survived. 

     The American alligator is one of the world's largest reptiles. Males can grow to 19 feet in length and weigh up to 900 pounds. Their bodies are covered with large horny plates which protect them from predators and other alligators. 

     They have short legs with five webbed toes on their front legs and four webbed toes on their back legs. Their eyes, ears and nostrils are located on top of their head so they can use them without being completely emerged in the water They have valves to close their ears and nostrils when submerged and they can stay under water for 45-60 minutes. Their tails are usually at least half their body length. 

     Alligators are found throughout the Southeast and wetlands, with their range stretching as far west as eastern Texas, and as far east as coastal North Carolina, but they are most abundant in Louisiana and Florida; both states have over a million of them. 

     Alligators are relatively timid compared to crocodiles and they have a natural fear of humans, so they will usually retreat when approached because they don't perceive humans as either a threat or as food. Even so, they are still dangerous!

     They will attack if they are unexpectedly disturbed, provoked, hungry or defending their young. They will also attack humans in the water because the splashing piques their interest. And, if it perceives that the person in the water is something smaller and weaker, as many humans will be compared to the alligator, it might attack. 

     According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission the safe distance to keep away from an alligator is at least 30 feet. Although they tire quickly, on land an alligator can reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. How fast is that? Sprinter Usain Bolt, just after the midpoint of his world-record 100-meter dash in 2009, briefly hit a speed of 27-1/2 miles per hour. 

     They are slower in the water...they can swim at 20 miles per hour. Olympic champion Michael Phelps has done 4.71 miles per hour. 

     Just to be safe, never approach an alligator that is on land (or swim in water in which an alligator has been spotted). There is no documented evidence of alligators running after humans or any land animal to prey upon them and there is no basis to the advice that if you are being chased by an alligator that you should run in a zig-zag pattern. Experts say that if you do find yourself being chased by an alligator that you should run in a straight line away from the alligator and its habitat. 

     If you do find yourself in the jaws of an alligator poke it in the eyes and punch and kick it in the head. Also, you can induce its gag reflex by jamming anything in the back of its mouth and when it tries to reposition its prey (you) in its mouth you have a chance to escape. That's on land; in the water escape will be more difficult.

     I saw a reality television program where two men went swimming in a pond in which there were alligators. Believe it or not, they were aware that alligators were in there, but went for swim anyway. 

     An alligator latched onto one of the fellow's arm and pulled him to the bottom. Alligators perform a spinning maneuver known as a death roll to subdue and dismember prey. The spinning maneuver involves rapid rotation about the longitudinal axis of the body. 

     He knew he was a gonner and let the alligator do its death roll and rip off his arm at the shoulder, but somehow he had the presence of mind and strength to escape as the alligator ate his arm.