Tag Archives: crocodiles

Gatorland

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Gatorland was certainly a high point for the trip. Between you and me, my young guests said they liked it better than Animal Kingdom!

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Gatorland gets you up close and personal and if you are into big lizards there are certainly enough gators and crocodiles to satisfy all.

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Besides the gator wrestling show you have a chance to sit on a real gator in the ring just as if you were doing the wrestling. Of course your gator has his jaws taped shut for safely.

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There’s also the feeding frenzy where handlers hand feed the big gators and even a few crocs. They send chicken carcasses on lines out over the gator pond to encourage the animals to jump for their meal.

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Other gator ponds are open to feeding by the guests. You buy a package of hot dogs and break off pieces to throw into the ponds near the gators.

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You try to get the hot dogs close to the gators because the birds  will steal the bits right out of the gators’ mouths. They seem to have no fear.DSC_0773 copy

Gators or Crocodiles

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One thing I learned in my exploring around the Everglades is that Alligators and Crocodiles are not the same creatures. Oh they may look a lot alike but there are differences.

Both animals are reptiles and they do look a lot alike but with the exception of Florida they live in entirely different areas of the world. They also prefer different kinds of water but aside from habitat the easiest way to tell the difference is the snout.

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The snout, or mouth and nose, looks very different. A crocodile snout is long, narrow and V-Shaped while those of the alligator as wider and u shaped. If you get a chance to look at the 2 species side by side the difference is not subtle at all. In fact I think once you compare the 2 snouts you’ll be unlikely to ever mix them up again.

The snouts are an indication of the different diets these beasts follow. The wide snout of the alligator gives it more crushing power which it need to devour its favorite meal of turtle. Crocodiles on the other hand eat mainly fish and small mammals so they don’t need that big chop to break through a shell. Thier narrower snout lets them strike quickly to snag the small creatures that make up their lunch.

One of the things that I find most interesting is their jaw. When an alligator closes its mouth the lower teeth are not as visible as in the crocodile. Because the alligator has that wide snout its upper jaw covers the lower jaw so the teeth in the lower jaw fit snuggly inside. A dentist’s dream.

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But the crocodile, now that’s the orthodontist’s dream patient. Braces for life. The upper and lower jaws of the crocodile are basically the same width so when it closes those jaws the bottom teeth interlock with the upper ones. My what big teeth you have!

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The last difference I will touch on is color. The typical crocodile tends to be an olive , brown hue. Alligators are much darker, almost black, especially when wet. Alligators that have been sunning and are dry may look more gray than black but all of the crocodiles I’ve seen have definitely tended more toward the brown. (Not that I’m an expert by any stretch)

Of course if you happen to run into one of these animals in the wild, on a walk, or in your pool, I wouldn’t stand around trying to figure out which one it was. I’d make tracks to a safe distance and call the experts. Crocodiles can run up to 10+ miles per hour for short distances. Alligators not so fast but they can spin around and jump really fast because that’s a skill they need to ambush their prey. So if you run across one..call the Gator Boys or 911 and don’t touch! 🙂

Where are the Sharks? Where is the Valley?

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Back on the tram we headed back to the info Center. As we traveled through the sawgrass prairie our guide turned to the landscape. The birds and alligators were still there but it was time to learn about the land. We stopped at a mound covered with trees where she explained that this was “Tree Island”. During the wet season it is surrounded by water but the canopy of the trees on the island keep the interior dry and the shade makes it cool. Everything from animals like Florida Panthers, deer,  alligators and even humans use these tree islands for shelter. Large tree islands doubled as homes for the native Florida Indians. There is room on the interior for small campfires and dry for sleeping.

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Moving on we passed the skeleton of a dead gator and an anhinga looking for a mate. You can tell when an anhinga is ready to mate by the colored circle around its eye. When they are searching for a mate the color of the circle becomes a brilliant color.

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Then she asked the million dollar question…why is this area called Shark Valley? As we looked around it didn’t look like a valley. The land looked pretty flat and there certainly wasn’t enough water for sharks. But that’s where we were about to be corrected.

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According to the guide Shark Valley is really a valley. To get to the coast you really have to go uphill. The rise may be slight and not that noticeable but it is there. Therefore this area does meet the definition if a valley: 1.low-lying area: a long low area of land, often with a river or stream running through it, that is surrounded by higher ground

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Ok so it’s a valley but where does the shark part come into it? The Everglades is not a swamp. The water is not stagnant. It is a slow-moving river filled with vegetation, hence the name “river of grass”, but it’s a wide shallow river still the same. And rivers go somewhere. The Everglades eventually connects to the sea.  At the junction where the fresh water Everglades meets the salt water of the sea an area of brackish  water exists. Here salt water crocodiles mingle with fresh water American alligators. It is the only place in the world where these 2 species exist side by side. And it is here that bull sharks enter the valley.

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Bull sharks are unique in the shark/fish world in that they can survive in both fresh and salt water. So in the brackish water where the ocean and fresh water meet, bull sharks come to hunt. The lower end of this valley connects to the ocean and creates that unique environment. Early settlers saw the sharks and the name Shark Valley stuck. 

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I attempted an internet search to confirm this explanation but so far my preliminary results have come up empty so I pass this along as a story told by our guide. It rings true to me. Florida is higher at the coast than the interior and bull sharks do survive in both fresh and salt water. That has been confirmed in many places of the world. So Welcome to Shark Valley. Definitely a place to visit when you get a chance.