WEBVTT - Can you outrun an alligator in a zig-zag? 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.160 Brought to you by the two thousand twelve Toyota Camera. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:08.039 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know? 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:17.000 From House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.760 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:25.840 and this is Stuff you should Know Reptilian edition. That 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.520 was not funny. Yeah, I'm really sure. I didn't expect it. 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:35.159 I can't fake laugh. I got you yesterday, didn't I? Um, 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.920 when I did a great fake laugh. Oh that made 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:43.120 me really laugh. Yeah, and that's ultimately what you want. Josh, 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:45.680 And we're shooting TV promos and he handed up a 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:51.840 little at one time, but they never do sometimes do Um. 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.280 So I have a I have a question for you. Yes, 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:59.920 do you know the difference between a crocodile and an alligator? Chuck? Um? Yeah, sure, 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.160 all right, let's hear it's smart guy. Well, no, go ahead, 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.520 I mean I don't want to steal your thunder. Okay, Well, 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:07.760 I mean they don't live in the same places. No, 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.759 that's a big one. And a crocodile has a gland 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.160 and its tongue that helps get rid of excess salt, 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:16.520 which allows it to live in brackish water. Salt water. 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.680 Alligators don't have that, right, and that's why they are freshwater. Right. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.880 If you see an alligator in the ocean, you're on acid. Um, 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.720 it's probably not crocodiles in the ocean now there. They 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:30.840 could be in the ocean if they wanted to. Is 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.200 the point. I just don't want to. But you still 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.240 have a high likelihood of being on acid. If you 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:37.880 see a crocodile ocean. Yeah, I would say you may 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.920 want to rethink what you're seeing. That's one thing. Another 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:45.160 one is, um, the crocodile has a V shaped snout, 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.520 whereas the alligator has more of a rounded you. Um, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.120 and uh. Lastly, you can always tell a crocodile because 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.880 it's fourth front tooth on the bottom sticks up over 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.720 its top lips, so when it's mouth clothes, there's always 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.400 one tooth sticking out. Snaggle tooth. Yeah, it's a snaggle tooth. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.000 The crocodile is interesting. I remember learning most of this 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.679 and uh back in the school in days, but I 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.520 never heard about the tooth. What is this podcast if 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.400 not a revisit to school and then something back to 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:19.720 school without Rodney Dangerfield. Well, you know so, Um, crocodiles 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:24.919 and alligators diverged. Um uh sixty five million years ago. Yeah, 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.240 they had a big falling out and Carnes or cairns. 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:30.200 Are you familiar with these things? I've heard of that. 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.240 What is that? C A I R N S. For 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.440 all intents of purposes, it's another either alligator crocodile. But 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:37.359 all three of them they went their own ways. They 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:42.640 broke up like the eagles, uh sixty five million years ago. Yeah, 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:44.560 they all went on to do their own thing. The 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.440 eagles go back, got back together. Though. Oh yeah, you 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.320 said you've never seen the h is. Oh now I 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:54.600 have to show that to you. I'll send you that link. Okay. Anyway, Um, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:59.040 and I forgot what the point was there any years ago? 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.880 Oh yeah, they broke up the band, I got you. 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.800 The point of all this is you've heard that you 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:10.000 can outrun an alligator in a zigzag. I have heard 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.760 both alligator and crocodile. Okay, so it's maybe a shared commonality, 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.160 probably depending on where you live. The only shared commonality 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.720 is that it's not really true with either one. Yeah, 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.280 I guess it is true, but it's just completely superfluous information, 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.480 that's right, the MythBusters busted this one wide open with 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:33.440 crocodiles and alligators. Um, with live crocodiles and alligators. Yeah, 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.760 they had their live alligator, uh with cork corks on 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:41.600 its teeth. Like. They stuffed pantyhose with quail like dead 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.040 quail and attached it to the uh their little dummy 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.080 guy they always use, and had a zigzag course and 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.040 then I think they used I think cary like really 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.040 got in there. But they basically they busted it because 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.920 they couldn't even tempt them to come after them, which 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.440 is sort of the point. It is the point the 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.720 out running an alley gator and his zigzag. Um. Yes, 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.760 you could outrun an alligator in his zigzag. You could 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:10.160 also outrun an alligator in a straight line. Um. And probably, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.720 like you say, the point is that an alligator is 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.719 not really interested, inn't you? Like almost all animals were 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.160 way more afraid of them. I'm sorry, they're way more 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.760 afraid of us than we're afraid of them. Yeah, I mean, 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:25.840 I guess we're afraid of them, but you know, you 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:29.040 know what I'm saying. Sure they don't want human interaction. No, 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.280 we smelled of them. Yeah, a bear didn't want to 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.240 kill you. A shark doesn't want to kill you. An 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.600 alligator doesn't want to kill you. No, No, I think 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.120 a bear wants to kill you if you're wherever it 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.680 doesn't think you should be. Now, a bear wants to 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.920 get into your state cooler in the campground. You've seen, 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:52.760 grizzly man. You should destroy this tape alright, so you 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:54.760 can out run an alligator. Josh, you were right, because 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.640 they top out at about eleven miles per hour, which 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:02.840 is nothing. It's actually be fast, dude. Eleven miles an hour. 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.320 That's tough to keep up for a little while. Luckily, 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:09.799 humans can sprint it's called foot speed, from between twelve 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.520 and fifteen miles an hour, and not only can we 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:17.240 run faster, but we have more endurance. And alligator is 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.440 not going to chase you down the street in your 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.640 neighborhood in Pensacola. It will come up and growl at 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:28.039 you on the porch, which apparently is defensive posturing, not aggression. Yeah, 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:31.920 that's true. I actually, uh did a canoeing trip down 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.280 the Okefinoke many years ago, not that many years ago, 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.320 like two years ago. It's been the last like twelve 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.280 or fourteen years. I wasn't like a little kid. I 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:46.600 think it was booze involved. Uh, And there were alligators 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.520 there and you know, near our canoe. And then when 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:51.600 you do a trip through the Okayfinoki, one of the 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.320 coolest things is is you don't, uh, there are no campgrounds. 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.719 It is just swampland, and you have to reserve these 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.159 camping decks and you're the only person that can stay 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.239 on the deck because it's like whatever, fifteen by fifteen feet, 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.039 and so you reserve these things ahead of time into 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.160 your trip, and so you were the you see no 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:14.880 other human being once you set off in that canoe. 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.520 It's neat and kind of creepy. But um, did you 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.160 have a gun with you? Sharp Rock? I don't own 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.120 a gun. Um did you borrow a gun? No. We 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.640 had a lot of boxed wine though, and food and 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:30.440 it was me and my buddy Claying Big John, and 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.719 we all went and um, we got on our camping 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.880 deck and by this place right by this sort of 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.520 open lakey area, just gorgeous. Man, one of the great 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.760 trips of my life. And in the morning we woke 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:47.440 up surrounded by alligators like we saw eyes everywhere and 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.000 we heard them growling. It woke us up, and they 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.960 were just hanging out, letting us know they were there, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.320 and it was it was a little unsettling, but I 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.760 wasn't I wasn't like scared the whole time, but I 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:01.880 was definitely aware. Like when you look in this water, 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.120 it looks like iced tea. It's you know, they call 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:06.320 it black water, but it's really brown. But you can't 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.640 see like three inches down underneath the water. You can't 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.040 see anything. So that's what's terrifying is if I fell 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:15.080 out of the canoe, I'd probably just get back in 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.160 and be no big deal. But you think if I 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.320 fall out the canoe, I'm going to get eaten alive. 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:22.360 So it's a little intimidating, yeah, Because I mean you 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.920 say that, you know, alligators don't want to kill you 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.480 or anything like that. They will eat you though, if 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:31.840 given the chance, if that's just how things end end up. Um, 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:35.760 the problem is is that you or me aren't going 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.440 to run into too many alligators that could eat us, 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.120 which means that they would have to tear us into pieces, 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.800 which an alligator tends not to like to do. Because, 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:48.120 as I understand from reading this article, alligators are a 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.600 little lazy. Yeah, they like to eat their meals in 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:56.360 one big, gulpy manner. So like a normal size alligator, 0:07:56.360 --> 0:08:00.120 which would be about five ft or so, UM is 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:04.360 gonna eat crayfish and turtles and snakes and things like that, 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:09.320 and even a small dogs not really at a threat 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.840 by an alligator. I don't know if I throw my 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.920 Chihuahua in the Okefinoki and say go for a swim. 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.720 But you're right, at the very least, it's just dirty. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.360 It's not dirty. It's just different water. Uh, it's nice 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:27.000 if you chuck all water is beautiful. It was. I mean, 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.960 it's not like it looks gross. It's just brown. So 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.559 you talk about small alligators five feet in under, um, 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.120 that's a vast majority, as I understand. Um, apparently humans 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.120 like ones that are even smaller. You've heard of having 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:46.439 an alligator as a pet. Yeah, Bannon specifically advises against this. 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.600 I think it's Rex Bannon from the beer bearing episode 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:56.240 of The Simpsons Moses a pet store all of a sudden, Yeah, 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.880 Um and that. But that's how most um alligator attacks 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:05.000 happen is when you try to basically adopt an alligator 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.199 as a pet, right, Because these things, even if they're small, 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.480 like a three foot alligator, it's tiny, and they make 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.679 cute noises and they're weird looking, they will still take 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.040 a bite out of you if they feel threatened. And 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.199 even if you're not going to die, you're still have 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.199 to you the hospital. Yeah, and and and a mother 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.760 alligator will certainly attack if you're trying to take one 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.199 of her little babies as a pet um. Not a 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.240 good idea. And these things we we mentioned they're not 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.240 super fast on land, but they can swim like twenty 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.559 Yeah that's the big deal. Like, yeah, you can outrun 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:39.200 an alligator, and you probably can't out swim an allegy. Definitely, 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.280 you definitely can't. So the ones that you and I 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.040 would need to be afraid of would be one of 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:47.040 a full grown one, maybe up to like eleven feet. Yeah, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.679 that's large. These are the ones that could look at 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:51.600 us and be like, I might be able to get 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:55.320 that down my gullet in one bite, so let me try, 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.520 or at least a small kid, you know. Um. The 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.000 thing is that even these big ones, like you say, 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.520 they're more scared of us than we are of them. Yeah, 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:06.760 maybe at the very least, they don't want to be 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.679 anywhere around us typically. Yeah, and they don't want to 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.080 be in a fight either, like any kind of prey 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.480 that's going to fight back. There's not interesting though you 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.640 said they're lazy. They want something easy that they can 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.320 just Hey, look at that turtle. Okay, I got one 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.600 for you, smart guy. How about whenever you're like paddling 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.240 down the okay finocchi, and there's an alligator on land 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:28.800 and all of a sudden it comes into the water 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.800 towards you. Is that not aggressive? That is not aggressive? 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.840 You know what that is? What? It's the alligator feeling 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:39.160 threatened and feeling way more at home in the water 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.200 where they can hide except their little eyeballs that are 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:43.800 on top of their head. Right. So they're not coming 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:45.800 after you. You've just startled the alligator and it just 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.760 so happens to be to seem like it's coming towards you. 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.319 It's just going back to its home. I get what 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.920 you are. If you're in a canoe and you see 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.160 fifteen alligators on land all of a sudden jump in 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.840 the water towards you, you think they're coming to attack 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:00.679 me and kill me and overturn a bote. I've seen 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.400 Temple of Doom. Yeah, and that's gonna happen. Did that 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.319 happen to Temple of Doom? There was a guy who 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.679 got rolled? Oh yes, and like, you know, are you 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:15.000 thinking of romancing the stone? I maybe? Okay, you have 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.000 a good memory. But tell them about rolling, the most 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.480 terrifying thing that can no doubt happen to a human. Okay, 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.439 So we said that, you know, alligators don't want to 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:25.600 attack you, they don't want to eat you. They still 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.880 will attack and they still will eat you under certain circumstances, 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:33.199 especially if you happen to be in pieces at the time. Um. 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.199 But the way that an alligator will attack you or 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.240 it's food or whatever prey it's going after, it clamps 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.800 down with its jaws, which are substantial, and it does 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.319 what's called the death roll, where it rolls over and 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:49.760 over and over again, taking its prey with it on 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:55.160 this little ride from hell um. And typically the alligators 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.240 prey dies from drowning from being rolled. Because an alligator 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.439 can hold its breath for up to an hour, it 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.160 has no problem with death rolling for as long as 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:08.560 it likes um. It also has nostrils on its snout 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:11.200 so it can keep his jaws clamped and still breathe 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:15.160 while it's death rolling as well. You can't do any 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:17.199 of this thing. So if you an alligator get you 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.640 in a death roll, you're in big trouble. Yes, agreed, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.760 But again we should point out the numbers bear out 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.320 the idea that alligators don't really want to have anything 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.280 to do with us, right, but they still call it 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.360 a death roll and not a severe injury roll. You know, 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:34.920 once you're in the death roll, it's your toast right. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.520 So um again though, if you if you look at 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.640 the numbers, there's like four alligator attacks in the United 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.839 States a year since nineteen forty eight. The Fish and 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:49.120 Wildlife Service reports three hundred and fifty six alligator attacks 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:53.920 on humans since twenty five or fatal. Yeah, and they 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.000 think nine of those the victim was already dead. So 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.560 I guess it has happened upon a dude that had 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.520 a heart attack. Insta. This guy's in four pieces too. 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.200 It's my lucky day, good eating. So the numbers are 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.640 on your side, and that this is not because they 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.719 are not around. Because they also point out that in 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:16.240 Florida alone, um, they average about twelve thousand complaints a year, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.560 and I mentioned Pensacola. My family cousins grew up there 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.360 in Gulf Freeze, and they had you know, they would 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.840 go out for school one day and there's an alligator 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:27.840 in the front yard. Let's go out the side door. 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:31.040 And they would call and that's one of the complaints, Like, hey, 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:32.480 I got an alligator in the front yard and they 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:34.640 I guess someone come by and take care of it 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.040 by shooting it, probably back into the woods or replacing it. 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.120 I don't think they would just like shoot to kill 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:45.679 or anything like that. Uh, you know, they usually take 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.839 its head off with a shovel. They don't shoot it. 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.320 That's not the or a shoe, the heel of the shoe. 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.360 What does an alligator complaints sound like? This alligator is 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.439 looking at me? Is an alligator looking at me? Can 0:13:57.559 --> 0:13:59.960 come do something about it? Yeah? That's an alligator can 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.679 plant pretty much is they're they're not where they are 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.800 where they should not be, which is in my on 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:09.400 my property. Or again though we're maybe where we should 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.040 not be, which is in an alligator's house. It's to 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.800 heck up a point. They lived right on the bay um, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.000 all right, So if an alligator get to you in 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.120 the mouth or gets the prey in the mouth, they 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.440 are going to let go at a certain point to 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.160 get ready to swallow you. Well, it's in its death roll. Yeah, 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.760 so they don't like, No, it's like after the death roll, 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.600 they juggle you around to get you in a good 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.520 position to eat. They don't like just start chomping down right, 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.280 because they can't move those huge jaws very easily. No, 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.880 but they're very strong, So you're not gonna get out 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.720 of an alligator's jaw. But they do recommend if you 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.240 are attacked, Um, this could be a very risky way 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:49.960 to get away is to wait for like play dead 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.160 and wait for them to release you to try and 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:56.760 swallow you. Yeah, that's and it's specifically that's your last 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.120 ditch effort, and it's an extremely risky one. Becau is 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.720 once you're in the death roll. Again, they don't call 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.760 it a severe injury role. Um, once you feel an 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.520 alligator clamped down on you, you want to act immediately, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.800 and you by acting, you want to scream, you want 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.920 to yell. You're gonna make as much noise is entirely possible. 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.400 Because again, alligators are lazy. They go for low hanging 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:23.400 fruit or low hanging crawfish meat. Yeah. Um, and if 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.800 you put up any resistance, they're gonna be like, attack 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:29.080 with this, I'm gonna go after something that doesn't yell. 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.800 Don't like my diving things to yell at. I mean, 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.280 it's just depressing, you know. Yeah, and it's probably going 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.320 to be your instinct unless you go into like shock 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.120 or something. So do what comes naturally, which is flail 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.400 and scream and hit them. And then if you can, 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.880 just like the old shark snout, if you can actually 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.320 get your wits about you, try and jam a finger 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.080 in their eyeball, which is a good method for stopping 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:55.400 any kind of attack. I think it's like the eject button. Yeah, 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.760 during an attack humans, any kind of animal, the gugs 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.360 their eye, they're gonna be like, dude, I only got 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.840 two of those and al yeah and al all right. 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:08.840 So that's how to get out. That's how to prevent 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:13.280 the death roll. Um. If you again, though, if you 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.280 are in a death roll, pretty much, try playing dead 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.680 nice knowing you yeah, because either you're gonna play dead 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.800 or you're gonna be dead one or the other. Uh So. 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.800 Crocodiles are a little more aggressive, and that's probably why 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.600 alligators get a little more of a bad rap um. 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.720 Crocodiles have been known to come after folks here and 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.920 there if you're if you're hanging out fishing on the 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.360 shore line, especially if you're cleaning your fish on the 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.760 shore line. That's a bad move. It's a very bad move. 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:48.160 And um, they are especially aggressive where and uh Africa 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:53.400 and um, South America or Australia. Australia. Of course they're 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:57.840 aggressive in Australia. Oh that's where crocodile dundee phone. That's right. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.760 So um, we've coached people on how to fight back. Yeah, 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.200 and Chuck, let's take a step back. We're giving detailed 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.840 instructions on what to do if you're attacked by an 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.119 alligator crocodile. Does it ever occur to you that we 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:17.040 do stuff like this sometimes? Sure, it's crazy, it is crazy. Ahead, 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.000 it's crazy, as my wife says. Um. All right, So 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:23.880 the two reasons you might get attacked by an alligator 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.840 or crocodile is, like we said earlier, if you're messing 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.760 around with their family. Um, or you're just in their 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:34.600 territory and it's feeding time and you're caught unaware mating season, 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.320 which is early to midsummer. Yeah, that's when the adult 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.240 males will come after you. Careful, Hey, I don't want 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:45.200 you trying to hunt my lady. It's my lady. And 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.440 that brings us Josh to the to me one of 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.400 the best sentences on our website, which is, many attacks occur, 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.840 I'm sorry to sentences. Many attacks occur as a result 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:58.440 of people teasing or trying to capture alligators. Throwing sticks 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.840 and rocks at alligators may seem harmless, but doing so 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.400 creates a dangerous situation. Wow. Yeah, it may seem harmless. 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.320 I read that was like, who thinks throwing rocks and 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.240 an alligators are harmless? Act? What's this gonna harm? Unless 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.000 you're like Damien from the Omen. You know what kind 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:19.199 of sick twisted kid does this? Sick twisted kid future 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.600 serial killers? All right, so it's not harmless at all. 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.679 It's very harmful. Yeah, don't throw rocks at any living thing, 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.040 jerk um. And you said when you were on your 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:32.920 okay Finocchi canoe trip that you know you couldn't see 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.240 very far down into the water. Typically you want to 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.920 avoid swimming in just that kind of water. If you 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.880 want to avoid being, you know, an alligator encounter, let's 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.040 call it that. That's super PC. If you want to 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.280 avoid an alligator encounter, um, you want to swim in 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:52.320 areas where the water is pretty clear and you can 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.120 see pretty deep into it, and areas that are well groomed, 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.320 not a lot of shrubbery and grasses and muckiness for 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.800 an alligator to hide him. Yeah, and don't send little 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.320 Timmy down there with his uh beach ball to play 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.680 along the shoreline of the grassy shoreline. If your dad, 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:12.919 like we said, don't clean your fish out right there 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.439 by the shore line. Moms can clean fish too. Uh, 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.840 that's a that's a good point. Thanks. In fact, in 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:22.720 some families, dad catches the fish, mom cleans the fish. 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:27.560 In some families, mom catches the fish and dad cleans 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.800 the fish. And in some families nobody fishes. Just buy 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:33.600 a fish at the store, you just go to you know, 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:40.400 Arthur Treachers. Emily would never clean fish. Are you kidding me? Oh? Yeah, 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.200 good lord? You mean said she loves cleaning fish? Really 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.480 she where she grew up. Yeah, I could see that 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.280 because you got spunk, Emily. If you'd handed a knife 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:51.400 and to cut this fish's head off. She would she'd 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.840 be like, are you kidding me? What kind of a 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.320 joke is this. Let's just go to Arthur Treachers. Yeah, exactly. 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.359 You got anything else? Um? Yeah, I do have something else? 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:06.120 Um you said if you're uh, your cousins would call 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:08.520 the Fish and Wildlife Service when they saw an alligator. 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:11.720 If you see an alligator, no matter how small, you 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:14.920 want to alert everybody else too that there's alligators because 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:16.720 if you see a baby one, there might be a 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:22.200 mom um. And also, don't feed alligators. That's a good point. 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:26.919 The reason why is you are basically writing their death sense, right, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:28.600 which is a weird thing to write, but that's what 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:33.000 you're doing. Um, because alligators who are fed sometimes lose 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.760 their fear of humans and making may come close enough 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:41.920 for a terrible alligator encounter. And any any alligator that's seen, 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:46.560 you know, approaching a human not out of fear, is 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.680 going to um, it's going to be put down. You 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.119 shouldn't feed any wildlife like that, really because there especially 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:54.959 once I can kill you though. Yeah, they're pretty good 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.239 at finding their own food, right until you start feeding them. 0:20:58.280 --> 0:20:59.879 Then they become less good at that and it just 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:04.280 hurts everybody. Basically, you upset the circle of life to 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:09.119 turn it into an a rhombus. Yep. Uh. If you 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:12.879 want to know more about alligators and zigzags and you 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.359 want to see a photo of a person holding a 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:20.159 detect human arm from an alligator attack and it's crazy, 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.800 you can type in alligator zigzag in the search part 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:25.840 how stufforks dot com. It will bring up this article. 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:27.760 And I said, search bars means it's time for a 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:33.080 listener mail. But first, chuck, it's getting to be about 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:35.680 that time. We're like a week or so out from 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:38.960 the premiere of our television show Stuff you Should Know 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:42.520 on Science Channel. That's right. So it's quick plug time, yes, 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:46.520 as we like to call it, Saturday, January Science Channel 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:49.840 ten pm Eastern and ten thirty because we're showing two 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:53.240 episodes on premiere night, back to back after season three 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:58.359 premiere of Idiot Abroad, which is great, so, uh watch 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:00.680 it and hey, you can get on an itune the 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:04.119 day following the show. Yeah, Sunday mornings, wake up, have 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.879 some brunch, a little bloody Mary, download the show. That's right, 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.879 and you know what Science Channel is offering the premier 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:13.280