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A Glimpse into the Lives of Florida's Alligators |
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These were observed at Eco Pond on March 19, 2000. Eco pond has open water in the middle, but is surrounded by reeds and grasses for up to 10 meters out from the edge. Six different alligators were seen from about 8:30 am until 10:45 am. There was not much qualitative data to be obtained. The estimated lengths ranged from 0.5 to 3 meters. The most common observed behaviors were sunning, swimming, and floating.
The main one observed was about 1.3 meters long, sitting in the reeds and amid the cattails, sunning or resting. For the next hour, the alligator didn't move any direction that was noticeable. Its whole body was out of the water, with its tail laying on the plants in the undercover. The head moved a little bit to the left towards the water when the sun was out for awhile. The alligator didn't appear to be stalking because there was no prey around to stalk and no subtle movements. Even when a great egret came by around 10:30, the alligator lifted up its head about 0.5 meters and opened its eyes, but seemed to only stare at the egret, which was about 1.5 meters behind him. At 10:40, the alligator returned its head to the resting position, and that's when I had to leave and stop observing.
There were two that were observed while swimming. A medium sized one about 2 meters long swam slowly across the middle of the pond with its eyes and snout above water. Its tail and about 0.5 meters of its back were also above every 30 seconds or so. I watched it for about 2 minutes before it disappeared behind the reeds and was no longer visible. Its rate of swimming was around 16 meters per minute. Another alligator about 3 meters long surfaced, swam about 2 meters forward, then submerged again. A few seconds later, it came to the surface again about 3 meters forward of the previous position across the pond. The rate of swimming was about 20 meters per minute. Its back and head were above water when it surfaced, but then it swam out of view.
Two alligators were also observed floating in the pond. One was far away from my observation point, and was near a sludgy area, appearing to be where some reeds were submerged, or a very shallow area in the middle of the pond. The alligator was very still and its nose and eyes were above water, along with a small portion of its back. It submerged after 5 minutes. The second alligator was closer to the edge of the pond, but still beyond the reeds. It was also close to a similar sludgy spot. At first (9:15), only its nose and eyes were above water, but then more of its head surfaced (9:25) and turned away from me towards the sludge. Its back also came out of the water, and then it moved forward about 0.5 meters and perpendicular to its original position. It remained that way until 10:15, when its back submerged and it moved about 2 meters backwards from the direction it was facing. This alligator seemed to be actually stalking some sort of prey because it moved imperceptibly towards the reeds starting at 10:20 or so. However, there were no birds around, so it was not obviously stalking.
A juvenile was also seen, about 0.5 meters long. It stayed closer to the edge of the pond and swam around more quickly. It wasn't as stealthy. It tried to stalk a commen moorhen, but was too obvious, and the moorhen didn't even appear concerned by the small predator. The alligator also covered itself with mud from the bottom, and this appeared to have been for camoflauge.
I never saw any birds that were obviously upset by an alligator, although there was several times the grass rustled and birds came flapping up and crying an apparent warning. I could never spot the alligator that had caused the disturbance among the reeds, however. The most activity I observed was swimming fairly slowly and sunning on the grass. Alligators, as typical of reptiles and ectotherms, have short bursts of activity followed by long periods of rest to gain energy back. They also spend lots of time sunning themselves to absorb warmth from the rays of the sun so as to not be so sluggish.
An interesting followup experiment would be to observe one alligator all day long. When only able to watch for two hours, much of their behavior is missed. It would be interesting to see how much time they spend sunning versus swimming. It would also be intriguing to measure accurately how fast they swim. I could only estimate. Another experiment could involve comparing and contrasting juveniles and adults in their stalking behaviors and time spent in that activity.
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