WEBVTT - Can You Really Escape an Alligator by Running Zigzag? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.880 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:13.280 boglebam here. Much like the cheetah, the alligator is an 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:17.319 incredibly fast runner. You've probably seen one rise up on 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.279 its long, muscular legs and sprint the length of a 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:25.840 football field in pursuit a fleeing prey. No, you've never 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.640 seen that. What you've probably seen is more like this. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.199 You're standing by a pond checking out some kind of 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.240 heron when you notice two small bumps protruding from the water. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.040 After you take note of the nearby don't feed the 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:44.720 alligator's sign, you put two and two together. Those bumps 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.960 are the eyes of a gator lazily floating in the pond. 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.519 You might be frightened for a moment, but then you 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.160 remember the classic adage. You can escape an alligator if 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.959 you run in a zigzag, and this brings you comfort. 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:04.760 But should it. This saying, which is so old and 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:08.720 so widespread that it's virtually impossible to determine where or 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.240 why it started, implies first that an alligator is likely 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:17.520 to chase you across land, and second that alligators can 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.440 run faster than humans, at least when they're running in 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:25.479 a straight line. Neither of these are exactly true. Oh 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.600 what's true for sure is that you should avoid encouraging 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:32.200 an alligator to chase you under any circumstances. But they 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.880 don't really conduct chases on dry land because that's not 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:38.800 what they're built for, and if one did, you could 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:43.520 almost certainly outsprint it. Today, let's talk a little about 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:49.960 alligator's safety, including how alligators do and don't attack. The 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.240 American alligator is an apex predator and keystone species in 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.880 its native environment, which is the mostly freshwater systems of 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.800 the American South, ranging from eastern Texas up into Arkansas 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.600 and across the warm southeast up to the coastal Carolinas. 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.160 They are large, cold blooded reptiles, which means they do 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:12.760 a lot of work to work as little as possible 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:17.040 in order to conserve energy. They'll eat pretty much anything 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.800 they can get a hold of, and they actually create 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.640 environments for their food sources by digging or wallowing in 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.600 the mud or silt of a water bed, making pockets 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.720 that won't dry out during the dry season. But gator's 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:35.639 entire mode of cuisine is based on energy conservation. They 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.840 prefer to sneak up on their prey in the water, 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.880 they can float motionless and swim silently, their eyes set 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.280 on the top of their head like a periscope. They're 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.119 patient hunters and will wait in the water for hours 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:53.400 before lunging at an opportune snack. Once they attack, if 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.480 the prey does fight back, a gator will typically abandon it, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.720 and they don't tend to attack anything that they can't 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:04.040 swim in a single gulp. Even large alligators choose prey 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:08.000 that's relatively small, which is good news for adult humans. 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.959 This has to do with an alligator's jaw and throat structure. 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:15.880 A gater kills by latching onto its prey with its 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:19.840 strong jaws and teeth designed to crush shells and bones. 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.480 It'll then perform the death roll, rolling over and over 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.040 in the water until its prey drowns or bleeds out. 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.680 The alligator then juggles the prey around in its mouth 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:33.800 so that it can toss it down its throat in 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:38.120 one bite. That massive jaw that allows it to hang 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.480 on to prey so securely also prevents it from chewing 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:45.880 and swallowing, and its teeth aren't particularly sharp. If a 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.720 gater does take down prey, too large to swallow a hole, 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:51.960 it'll store it until it rots enough to tear chunks 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.240 out of which, even for a gator, is not the 0:03:55.280 --> 0:04:00.520 most delicious prospect. Small alligators make up the majority of 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.760 the population. An alligator that's less than five feet or 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.960 one and a half meters long will typically eat crawfish, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.920 small snakes, and turtles. They don't even present a threat 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:17.359 to small dogs, let alone people. Large alligators are less common, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:19.960 but they can be big enough to size us up 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:24.000 as a legitimate meal. A full grown gator can be 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.360 some eight to eleven feet long that's two and a 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.600 half to three and a half meters and weigh up 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:31.840 to one thousand pounds or four hundred and fifty kilos. 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.120 They are a threat, but they're still wary of us. 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.080 We're big and noisy, and they tend to avoid interactions 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:44.159 with people all together. When an alligator snaps its jaws 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.839 and bellows at people, it may look like it's rearing 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.799 for an attack, but this is really just defensive posturing. 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.960 It's hoping that you will leave it alone. An alligator 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.600 is most likely to attack humans when it's protecting its 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.920 territory or nest, or otherwise sees the person as a threat. 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.960 Early to Midsummer is mating season, and adult male gaters 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:09.120 become territorial. Later in the year, a female gater may 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.960 attack if she perceives a threat to her eggs or hatchlings. Generally, 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.760 just don't try to pet alligators or other wild animals. 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.440 They're not pets. But if you see an adorable young gaiter, 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.000 you must assume its mother is nearby and will not 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:29.479 take kindly to stranger danger. No matter how small an 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:33.680 alligator is, don't attempt to feed it. This only encourages 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.200 them to get closer to humans, which could lead to 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:40.279 attacks later. Innocently trying to give a gator a snack 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.599 could be a death sentence for the animal if it 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.920 begins approaching people, and wildlife services has to be called in. 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.479 Don't throw things at gaiters if one is crossing a 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.359 road or path, don't try to move it along. Like 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.920 all of us, They're just doing their thing, and they've 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:57.560 got as much right to be here as we do. 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.919 More really, when you consider that they've been around for 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.840 some eighty four million years and we're the three hundred 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:08.800 thousand year upstarts. Unfortunately, alligator bytes are on a bit 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.680 of an upswing, probably because their populations have been recovering 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:18.520 from endangerment and human development is increasingly encroaching on their territory. 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.400 In Florida, for example, there was an average of just 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.200 one bite per year from nineteen eighty eight through nineteen 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.159 ninety nine, but that number jumped to seven a year 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.640 between two thousand and twenty sixteen, and in twenty twenty 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:35.400 twelve bytes were reported. Still, the US as a whole 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:40.919 averages less than one alligator related fatality per year. From 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.800 nineteen forty eight to two thousand and four, the Fish 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:47.560 and Wildlife Conservation Commission received reports of three hundred and 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:52.040 fifty six alligator attacks on humans. Only twenty five of 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.480 those attacks were fatal, and in nine cases it's believed 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.560 that the victims were deceased before the alligators ate them. 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:03.880 Don't overturn boats to capture prey or snatch people out 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:07.479 of boats. If you see an alligator on the water's edge, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.240 silently glide into the water and head towards your boat, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.920 it's probably more afraid than you are. Gators are much 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.200 more comfortable in water than on land, so when they're 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.840 startled by a boat while sunning themselves, they instinctively head 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:26.120 for the water. Just steer clear. The greatest danger from 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.440 alligator attacks is too small children and pets near the 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.239 water's edge, either in the shallows or within striking distance. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.800 On land, the supervised play and the buddy system, even 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.720 for grown ups, is always the best bet for swimming, 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:46.880 even minus half ton Carnivorous reptiles, alligators lurk in murky 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.400 water and where banks are overgrown with weeds or brush. 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.520 They're most active at dusk and through the night. If 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:58.000 you are within alligator's natural range, be aware and stick 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.840 too clearer waters during the day. If you see a gator, 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.960 get out of the water and warn your bank side neighbors. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.360 In the extremely unlikely yet unpleasant event that an alligator 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.640 does attack you in the water, don't waste time trying 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:19.240 to pry its jaw open, which is nearly impossible. Do scream, thrash, 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.800 and splash to make the gator reconsider its choice, and 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.400 if you can aim a blow or poke it its eyes, 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.080 that's a pretty solid way to get any animal to 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.640 release you. If you're on land, then you think an 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.719 alligator is approaching you with malicious intent, run away as 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:39.760 fast as you can a straight line is fine. Gators 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.000 are quick in short bursts. They can dash it up 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.320 to around nine and a half miles per hour or 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:50.000 fifteen kilometers per hour, which is faster than most humans job. 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.840 But gators can't keep it up for long, and we 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:58.600 humans are much better sprinters. Athletes average above seventeen miles 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.400 an hour at a sprint. That's twenty seven kilometers per hour, 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.760 or nearly twice as fast as a gator's top speed. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.480 You say, in Bolt has been clocked at twenty seven 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.720 point eight miles an hour or forty four point seven kilometers. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.400 Even if you're not him, a brisk run should be fine. 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:19.360 Alligators have little endurance and don't give chase. If it 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.520 misses its first opportunity to grab its prey, it usually 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.480 gives up and goes back to waiting for something easy. 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.560 So sure, you could probably escape an alligator if you 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:34.400 ran in a zigzag, but the likelihood that an alligator 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.120 would ever chase you on dry land is so low 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.760 that the old adage is more joke than genuine advice. 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:49.640 It simply does not apply. Today's episode is based on 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.240 the article can you really escape an alligator? If you 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.960 run in a zigzag on how stuffworks dot Com, written 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.920 by A. Leah Hoyt and Amy Hunter. Brain Stuff is 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.400 production by Heart Radio in partnership with how to forks 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.240 dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.360 podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.440 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.