Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Our alligators are the stars in many a story. This reptile has been around for about two hundred and fifty million years and is still the same creature that he always has been. Personally, I think that they are a marvel of nature and I find them fascinating.

So today, I will share stories that I learned at the Okefenokee Swamp about our favorite reptile. I will warn you; some are stories and some are legends. Some are scary and some are funny. I believe that you all have strong stomachs and will enjoy them.

Our alligators got their name from the Spanish sailors that called them, el largota. You can tell the difference between the gator and the crocodile by the shape of their snouts. On the gator, it is rounded and on a crocodile, it is pointed.

Of course, the Okefenokee Swamp’s most abundant resident is the alligator. Throughout time, explorers always knew to keep an eye out for one of the 12,000 alligators who were living in the swamp, for they could be anywhere. Since the gators outnumbered the people in the region, anything or anyone that was in the swamp’s waters could become groceries for an alligator. Also, they knew that when you traveled through the swamp, there were many red eyes watching you and that you would not even see them. Swampers knew that this animal, who could be up to eighteen feet long, was one to be respected. One thing is for sure, once you spot one of these bad boys in the water, you’ll have no trouble identifying one again.

A story told by the swampers is that at one time, in the Okefenokee, the alligators were so thick you could cross over the streams by walking on the reptiles’ back. However, years of slaughter for their valuable hides reduced this abundant species to an endangered one. Though now protected, alligators continue to be threatened by illegal poaching. Current estimates place the alligator population at about 10,000. The alligator meat that is served in some local restaurants comes from alligator farms, not from the protected lands of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Here are a few alligator facts. Gators in the Refuge can often be seen lying on shore or partially in the water. They need the heat of the sun to aid in their digestion. Otherwise, they would get a bacterial infection and die.

Alligators are most active during the spring mating season of April and May and the nesting season in June. There is nothing like the sight of two bull gators fighting over a female. It’s kind of like two prehistoric beasts splashing around, locking jaws together and rolling until the one that is exhausted gives up and goes home. However, all is not over for the winner yet, for now he has to fight with the female to mate and she does not give up her favors easily.

The bull alligators make a bellowing sound. This is a territorial warning and they make this cry all year round but, in the spring, it has a special meaning. Females follow this sound and also the musky odor given off by the bull that signifies to the one that they will mate with, that he is hers. After the mating, the female will lay between forty to sixty eggs on a bank, covering them with decaying vegetation. Sixty to ninety days later, there is a clucking sound heard by the mother who now will uncover her nine-inch hatchlings.

Nest temperature decides the gender of the babies: males hatch from warmer nests, females from cooler ones. The babies play around their mother and with each other for months, enjoying an unusual loving relationship. They follow her around like baby ducks and geese do with their momma. They will even crawl up on her back and she will take them around with her for a swim.

The first thing she does is to teach them to hunt for mostly minnows and insects. She expects them to feed themselves within days from hatching. Baby alligators are prey to many animals from owls and hawks to bobcats and raccoons. However, when the baby becomes an adult, the situation changes and their list of enemies narrows down to just one, man.

Alligators can live for about fifty years and can grow to 18 feet. During this time, they will lose and regrow about six thousand teeth. The average alligator has a varying diet, although it prefers fish. However, they’ll eat anything that moves that is close to them. They will munch on turtles, snakes, crabs, birds and other small animals. Pet owners should be aware that gators also dine on dogs and sometimes, if they can catch them, cats. A gator will eat about one meal a week in the spring and summer. However, in the winter, their appetites subside. Sometimes they will not eat at all. They can go up to six months without eating while they hibernate.

There is another truly remarkable aspect to their bodies and that is they are like submarines in that their bodies are water tight. When he submerges, the alligator keeps water out of his eyes by using a third eye lid that closes tight. Not only does this keep out the water, it enables this reptile to find food under the water.

Also, while submerged, its nose and ears have slits that shut tight. No leaks there! Since it does a lot of hunting underwater, there is a flap that is at the back of its throat that also shuts tight, sealing out water that would go into its lungs.

Another remarkable aspect to its body, and one that scientists have been researching, is that it can redirect its blood from the heart to the lungs, thus providing more oxygen. All of this makes it possible for the animal to remain submerged continuously for up to an hour.

The alligator does not have a brain but a brain stem. However, they have exceptional instincts. Sometimes a gator that has been relocated to an area far away, will find its way back to its “home”, like it has a homing device. These abilities have kept the alligator around for millions of years.

Lone Thrift then talked about the time when he was young, a gator grabbed a boy by the ears! This happened when two brothers went down to the swamp to go swimming. One of the brothers jumped off the bank ahead of the other. Now, the brother on the bank, waited for him to surface but he wasn’t coming up. Then, just his foot popped up. The brother on the bank grabbed the foot and tried to pull him away from the gator but he wasn’t strong enough. So, he dragged both his brother and the gator on to the bank. Now, with his brother rescued, the boy went to the house, got a gun and shot the gator.

Thrift said that he would see the boy who was mauled and he had scars on both sided of his head. They were three inches long and no hair would grow inside them.

I have a couple of stories that were told by the guide who took us through a part of the swamp. This is a story that involves a young man, who was desperately clinging to the side of his small, wooden fishing boat. His wet blue jeans and boots felt like giant stones beckoning him to sink downward into the black abyss of the water. His heart was thumping hard. Blood rushed against his ear drums. He could barely hear the grunts from the alligators which were now surrounding him, as they circled around him.

Their red eyes seemed like devil orbs, as more gators peered out of the tall grasses. He had fished here a hundred times before and was not frightened. Of course, then he was in the boat, not hanging on to it.

Suddenly, he heard splashes and felt ripples. Cold sweat dripped into his eyes and he realized that all the gators knew he was there. Oh, how his arms ached as he clung to the boat!

Then, he felt a brush against his legs and saw deadly tails pulsating. An adrenaline rush gave him the strength to climb into the boat. Then, his attention changed with the sound of truck engines and headlights, which now pierced the blackness.

Men were yelling and shouting. Boats were hitting the water and engines screamed. The red eyes took on a fearful glow. With that, the alligators darted and scattered, looking for safety. Now, the man was safe.

This one shows what an angry Momma gator can be like. Seems that she was protecting her nest against a boat. Two men were riding down a very narrow river channel and were close to the banks.

A huge female alligator had arranged herself in front of her nest. She looked like a log, but this one had teeth. When the small boat came close, this is when she went into action, racing off the bank and chasing the noisy intruder, smashing her tail and baring her teeth. She then passed the boat and began twisting. Then, she stopped and pounded her powerful tail on the surface of the water, as she prepared to deliver a direct hit onto this piece of fiberglass. The men tried to go as fast as they could and began to steer away from the angry gator. With her size and state of mind, she was truly a danger. Not wanting to go too far from the nest, she stopped. The men were relieved, as they left her behind.

Another story involves a giant crane, that was dredging out the land near the shoreline. Ruthlessly, the metal bucket penetrated into the soft earth, which gave way and dislodged an alligator nest. As the huge steel bucket descended again, momma gator attacked it. Savagely, she tried to eat this threat to her young.

I do have several stories that may put a smile on your face. This one was told during the tour in Okefenokee Swamp by a ranger.  A very drunk man was at this old-time saloon, when he wanted an alligator to drink a beer with him. When the bartender asked him why he was doing that, he replied that the alligator would be more relaxed if he had a drink or two now and then!

This one tells of another local man who almost lost his leg and his life, when he tried to pet an alligator and get it to come through the door and into his house. When asked why, he told the Department of Natural Resources ranger that he wanted it to be his pet!

Now we have a man who wanted to train alligators and was very surprised when he found out just how fast an alligator on land can really run. He stated it this way: “They may look as slow and sluggish as a beached whale, but if you temp them with Twinkies or Doritos, they come after you faster than a race horse at Churchill Downs! I guess it thought that I tasted like Twinkies, too.”

As you would expect, the locals love to tell alligator stories to visitors and here are couple that are popular at a diner in Waycross.

A local swamper was asked about what are some of the animals that live in the swamp. The visitor said, that he was told that there are many different kinds. The man then added that: “a few days ago, up here, I came across a gator that was so long, he was sweatin’ in his face an’ had frost on ‘is tail!”

It is also popular to tell the lady-folks not to be afraid of ‘em alligators cause they are just maneaters!

Lastly, I have this one for you. The locals will tell you that it is very convenient that they have alligators down there because they help keep folks from drowning. If someone falls overboard, an alligator always “swallers ‘im” before they have the time to drown!

Also, very few folks get lost in the swamp down there, because either a bear or a gator will chase them out of the swamp before they get in there far enough to be lost!

If you enjoyed these stories, you would love the ones where they talked about the hot weather!

Just a passing note, Okefenokee Swamp has been in many movies including: “Swamp Water”, “The Creature From The Black Lagoon”, and “Lure Of The Wilderness”. In every one of these the alligator has been featured.