WEBVTT - All About Alligators 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:15.160 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.160 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Couldn't come up with 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:22.439 a jokey nickname. Jerry's here to everybody. Uh, and this 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.640 is stuff you should know the um that's not a 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:35.879 Noith edition. So uh. After researching alligators and looking at 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:40.440 a lot of videos of alligators, you're an expert on alligators, 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.919 I'm an expert. No. Um. I had seen plenty of 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.840 alligator footage and things, and I never really just sat 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.400 and really really watched them for long. And once you 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:55.360 do that, you cannot help. But just think, what era 0:00:55.480 --> 0:01:00.920 am I living in here to be watching this weird, 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:09.520 crazy looking dinosaur dragon beast walking along? Okay, Like you 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.200 gotta see him walk, like seeing him swimming around, that's great, 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.920 But when you see them walking around with their bellies 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:21.000 off the ground, it looks crazy. Yeah, especially if you 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:25.000 have the theme to the Alfred Hitchcock shows playing alongside 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.880 of it works really well. They look crazy. It looks 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.520 like it doesn't look like something that should be walking 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.800 along on today's Earth. Did you know that the theme 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.319 from the Alfred Hitchcock show is called The March of 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.840 the Marionettes. I didn't know that. It is, all right, 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.720 how does it go? Dude? Do do Do Do Do 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:48.760 Do Do Do Do Do Do do good evening, do 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.880 do do do do do do do. It's so nice 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.400 you can't sing. Have you seen an alligator in real 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:59.000 life in the wild? Uh? Yeah, sure. I talked about 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.560 it at one point when I did my Oky Finoki 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:06.480 swamp paddle and we woke up in the morning on 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.360 our camping pad that they just have stationed periodically along 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.760 the canoe trail. Well, now we know those things must 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.000 be at least five ft above the water, right, Well, 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.240 I tell you, I don't know if it was or not. 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.200 But now that I've read this that they can jump 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.160 out of the water that high, I think it's just 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.200 not something they often do. But you know, we woke 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.240 up surrounded by alligators growling at us or groaning or 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:36.080 whatever they're doing. It's just sort of a are you 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.400 sure they were alligators and not crocodiles? I'm almost sure, 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:42.640 and I have a little bit of statistics to back 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.280 that up. Um. Even though the Okay finok is not Florida. 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.480 I think there are about I'm sorry, yeah, it wouldn't 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:54.400 have been crocodiles. Um about ten if I'm sorry. Five 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.960 million American alligators one point to five million in Florida, 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:03.240 whereas Florida only has about a hundred crocodiles. I'm sorry, 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:05.640 a thousand. Cheez, I get this all wrong. One point 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.840 two five million alligators in Florida, one thousand crocodiles. And 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.519 that's the only place on Earth where crocodiles and alligators 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:16.240 live in the same place. Yeah, down in the Everglades. Yeah, 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.200 there's evergladiers just like whatever, man bring it. And it's 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.280 not nile crocodiles. There's a specific kind of crocodile called 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.760 the American crocodile, just like there's the American alligator. It 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.320 just sounds like the the Is that a crocodile or 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.440 an alligator? I think it's an all like I think 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.800 it's a gaddile. I remember that poster from the eighties. 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.800 It said, like, save an alligator, eat a preppy. That's right, 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.640 what is your tattoo? Say? Oh? Wait, wrong one. It 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:48.480 clearly has the rounded snout. We'll get to the difference 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.120 between them. This is mainly about alligators though, uh as 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.960 as these like I just called them almost dinosaurs. Yeah, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:58.680 you're you're amazed by that. It came through in the 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:03.400 article you put together. Yeah, it's amazing. Or dragons, Like 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.440 whenever you see the closeup of a dragon, they have 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:12.800 that same sort of scale male armoring. Chucky realized that 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.320 dragons are made up by humans who have probably seen alligators, 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.960 right exactly. I think we probably talked about that in 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.760 our Dragons episode. Surely we did. So let's let's talk 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:24.840 about gators. Huh. Yeah, we are talking gators and they 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.720 like I love among them, Like there's one like just 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.920 outside of my condo and the ponds that we have here, 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.000 and figured them a lot around here. You just have 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.480 to like be on your guard, just knowing when you're 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.680 walking a little moment around not alongside bushes you can't 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.719 see through and just stuff like that. Don't walk her 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.479 around a pond. Um, just have to be a little 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.680 extra smart, and they generally tend to leave you alone. Right, 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.839 but stick to inner city parking lots exactly. That's the 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.920 only place she's put her in the car, drive into 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.320 the city, let her out, and put her back him. 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.080 So um, like they're fascinating in and of themselves. It 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.800 never ceases to amaze me to look at an alligator. 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.040 But um, I've had no idea how amazing they actually are. 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.600 And one of the things that you put put down 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:15.520 there was that they have intensely small brains, like the 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:20.119 average alligators many feet long ten nine to eleven feet 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.560 long probably on average, um often quite longer, but that 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.880 their brain is only like eight or nine grahams. And 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:29.800 then this how Stuff Works article, it says that would 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.320 take up one half of a tablespoon, So it's a 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.800 really small brain. And on the one hand, that means 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.839 that like if you had an alligator as a pet, 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.520 which is a terrible idea. It's a terrible, terrible idea, 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.360 like that alligator is never going to come to love you. 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:46.880 Or two, there's never going to be a point where 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.920 you can let your guard down and relax because this 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.360 alligator is not going to eat The alligator would eat 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.279 you like the first moment it occurred to it to 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:59.920 eat you. Right, Yeah, But they're so they're killing machines 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.920 in that sense, they're like mindless killing machines. But at 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.960 the same time, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.040 that they are way smarter than they should be for 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.560 having a brain the size of half of a table spoon. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.039 They can do things like climb chain link fences. Do 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:23.280 you ever see a video of that? Terrifying? They can 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.120 climb trees. Um. They have been shown to be able 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.960 to figure out how to escape enclosures, like not randomly either, 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.839 like looking for ways out, and can actually like manipulate 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.360 manipulate vents and stuff like that. And somebody found that 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.960 they use tools and that they will put sticks on 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.680 their snouts, like they'll gather sticks on their snouts and 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:50.600 um yeah to uh to attract migratory birds who might 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:52.640 be nesting, so that they might come to grab a 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.160 stick and then the alligator gets them. It's way smarter 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.600 than you would think for something that has a brain 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.279 the size of a half of a table spoon. Yeah 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.440 the uh. Some of this came from the House stu 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.960 Works article I believe written by House of Works founder 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.440 Marshall Brain. Oh boy, uh ben a while since I've 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.080 read one of those. But he called them instinctual living machines, 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.480 which I think is a great band name. But what 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.520 he basically means is if an alligator is hungry. It's 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.440 gonna eat something, period. Like that's all. It's sort of 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.200 like the description of the great white shark and jaws, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.960 Like all it does is swim and eat like an 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:35.480 alligator basically just wants to eat and hang around. Uh. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:40.000 They are reptiles members of the Crocodilia order, of which 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.240 there are twenty three different species, including those crocodiles of 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.960 different stripes and sizes and caymans, which we're not really 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.840 going to talk about much in here. The poor cayman 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:57.559 never gets any of the it's like, but the Crocodilia 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.640 as we know it, and that body for has been 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:05.720 around for more than a hundred and eighty million years, uh, 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.040 which you know is you got that big head, you 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.520 got that big lizard like body, you got those little 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.640 stubby legs. And when they bring that belly off the 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.280 ground to walk on them, it looks super greepy. And 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.840 they got that big long tail that looks like it 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.200 was just made for for whacking things. Yes, and the 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.800 tail um keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger as 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:31.240 the gator grows. Um, and it might not usually I 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.360 think tops out at maturity. I think when they reach 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.760 sexual maturities about the time they they stopped growing. They 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.000 used to think that they alligator would just grow indefinitely 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.320 as it aged goldfish. Yeah, but now there's like a 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.760 top size for it. They realize. Um, but the tail 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:49.880 might not keep getting longer, but it can keep getting 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:53.160 fatter because that's where the gator stores it's fat. It's 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.880 fat reserves. Any excess energy gets stored in its tail, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.720 which is one of the things that makes gator tail 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:04.080 so ridiculously delicious if you're into that kind of thing. Yeah, 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.960 and you mentioned, Uh, they can grow on average about 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.280 eleven feet as if they're male five to seven hundred pounds. 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.920 The ladies are a little shorter. They're about eight feet 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.600 long and way about half as much. But um, there 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.000 was one that I had looked up. I think it's 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:23.760 still alive. Um, if the Alligator Adventures, Gator Park and 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.880 Myrtle Beaches, they're at least not advertising that utan has 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.680 passed away. Yeah, he looked like he was still there 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.920 based on their website. I think so unless they're just like, 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:34.720 don't tell anyone Utan died, and you know, we're just 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:36.440 trying to get people in the door. They just have 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:41.839 an intern wearing Utan's right. Well, Utan, my friends, was 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.400 born in nineteen sixty four, and it's just over eighteen 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.520 feet long and weighs two thousand pounds. And if you 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.120 want to see something that looks like it, it's c 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.000 g I from a movie. Just go look at Utan 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.040 and how big this thing is. And watch the people 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:58.920 in the in the cage with Utan feeding at those 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:04.280 skinned rabbits. Wow, I mean they're in there in Utan. 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.199 I guess is the deal is, as long as you're 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:10.440 feeding Utan, you can do this show. Uh. And I 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.199 guess we should go ahead and tell people that, I mean, 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.120 now is a good time to say that they don't 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.520 eat that much for as big as they are. It's 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:23.880 very surprising how little an alligator needs to eat to survive. Um. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:25.880 They I think they feed this thing a rabbit. You know, 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.640 it's got to be uh in bite sized chunks. They 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.520 can't you know, it's not like a python that can 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.079 swallow these eat these big things whole. Although it did 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.080 see a video of a python eating an alligator, which 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.800 was remarkable. It was a small alligator, but it was 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.599 a big python. You know what I'm saying. I know you, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:47.040 I know I know what you know what I'm laid down? Um, 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.160 what was I saying though you were saying it bites 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:52.840 they like bite size, so they don't need Yeah, they 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.520 don't need to eat that much compared to their size, 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:57.880 and then go a long time without eating because of 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:02.160 those fat stores. Right. Um. And when a long time 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.640 like you're you mean a long time like a week 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.800 usually in between feedings in the wild, right yeah, but 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.240 if if if the s is hitting the fan for 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.040 some reason, alligators can shut it down for a year 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.200 or two. I know that's like using up a lot 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.360 of fat up. But they have some skinny little tails. Yeah, 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.520 probably when they're by the end of a year. But 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.160 but a week in the wild to One thing I 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.000 didn't see though, was exactly how much it takes to 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.080 fill them up, like how much percentage of their body 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:30.960 way to the eat, Like is a rabbit enough for 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.840 a week or is that like once a day kind 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:38.000 of thing. It's a daily thing, just because I think 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.600 they probably try and do a little feeding show every day. Yeah. 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.199 So Um. One of the things, um, that a lot 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.839 of people might not realize because they're so often associated 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.560 with coastal areas, is that alec heres are freshwater. Did 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:55.800 you know that I did? Okay, surely there's somebody out 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:57.880 there who fits the bill with what I just described 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:04.000 there like what like, But they are freshwater. And one 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.120 of the things about like Florida's, if there's like a 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:11.280 something larger than an ephemeral puddle, there's probably an alligator 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.800 in there. Like they Yes, they'll any body of water. 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.080 They will inhabit a pond, a lake, a river, a stream, 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.840 a canal, an irrigation ditch, a drainage ditch, whatever. As 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.280 long as there's fresh water available, they will um hang 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:28.720 out there. And even when it dries up, they'll they'll 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.880 um dig what are called alligator den's that is basically 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.400 a burrow back down into the water table, and that 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.560 when some of these uh like more ephemeral wetlands kind 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.960 of dry up, the alligator den um might be the 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.839 only place in the area that has water. And then 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.200 when the alligator leaves, they're leaving that water behind, that 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.880 water filled hole behind, and then when that dries up, 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.280 it provides a burrow for other animals that burrow as well. 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.000 So there for and that reason, they're considered a keystone 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.800 species in their ecosystem. It's just about to ask are 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:10.319 the keystone. They're so keystone, dude, it's like keystone species. Um, 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.800 all right, let's take a little break. I'm all worked 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:14.920 up and I'm all over the place, So I'll refocus 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:17.760 and we'll be back right after this. I want to 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.520 learn about a terrosorticel, how to take a proprit with 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.600 all about fractal kiscon. That's a little hun the Lizzie 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:25.240 Border murders and they kind of all runs on the 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:33.840 plane every day that we should know. Word up, Jerry Stuck, 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.200 Stuck Stuck. I don't know that you know it. Stuck 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:42.280 in this stucks. It's a great name, that's the name 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:46.000 of it. It's a great name. Alright, Stuck st with 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.120 with an X. Okay, so I did mention. By the way, 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:51.959 I should just point out since I mentioned Utan's age 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.040 of fifty seven years old, born in sixty four. That's 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.560 in captivity. I think they can live a long time, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.400 but more like forty years in the wild. Um, so 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.360 fifty seven is you know, that's really on the highside. 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.440 Utan is doing quite well in captivity. But I imagine 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:13.280 Utanan's towards the in the twilight years. Yeah, I've seen though, Um, 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.400 like a couple of I saw a couple of articles 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.880 that said, you know, some alligator was captured based on 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.480 that and that was estimated to be about a hundred 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:27.040 years old. Um, so I don't think it is necessarily 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:32.400 like just ridiculously unheard of. But I saw in Smithsonian 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.880 Zoo I believe they're pretty legit. They said fifty is 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.960 usually around the average. I think for a wild alligator, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.080 probably a lot of that is humans cutting that average down. 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.200 I would guess, Yeah, we'll talk about poaching in a minute. 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:52.600 That's definitely an issue. Um, should we talk about the 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.120 armor plating? Yes? I think we should. This stuff is 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:57.720 cool And what made me kind of think of this 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.680 to begin with was watching that dumb show I talked 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.280 about before a Loan Beast where they drop you off 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.400 and give you a dead animal and no tools. And 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.320 in the Buyou they gave people alligators and people had 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.800 to figure out how to cut into this alligator without knives. 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.080 And you know, they do the same for these for 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.480 mammals on other episodes, but the alligator was a particular 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.600 challenge because of this armor plating that they have, which 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.720 is just really super tough to get into. Yeah. Um, 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:32.760 that's called osteoderms or scoots. I prefer osteoderms, don't you. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.960 I'm a scooter, okay, Um, But that is that's one 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.960 reason why it's really hard to kill an alligator especially um, 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:46.480 like as far as hunting alligators goes, um, the state 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.680 of Florida in particular really ties your hands with what 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:52.440 you can use um, and it really gives the alligators 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:54.680 like a fighting chance and they literally tie your hands. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.840 They do. They push you into the water, bunch of 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:02.400 gators and say you shouldn't be hunting. Um. So they 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:05.360 literally do have that kind of like the bony plates 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:09.320 underneath their skin, which does make them pretty tough. Um. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.280 But despite being weighed down by what amounts to like 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:18.120 plate mail armor, they're surprisingly fast. And we did this, um, 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.320 we did an episode years and years ago. Do you 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:26.200 remember whether whether yeah, in a zigzag pattern And the 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.360 answer to that is absolutely not. Don't do that because 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:31.640 the allegory will probably catch you because it's going to 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.360 run straight, because it's going to be smarter than you 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:38.200 and that uh in that moment. But um, they can 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.240 top out at about like eleven miles an hour on land. Yeah, 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.280 and that's you know, if you're just a regular human, 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.160 you may be able to run that fast at top 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.280 speed for a little while at your sprint. And you know, 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.200 alligators are mainly that's there. You know, they don't have 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.480 a ton of stamina, but they can't get after you 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.040 really fast. And if you've ever seen a video of 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.480 them coming out of the water to get something unsuspecting 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.600 creature on the shore, uh, you know how fast they 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.159 can be. It did crack me up in this article 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.280 how they were talking about you know that they don't 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.479 have much staminaus because the way their respiration works, and like, 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:17.679 if you need to just all you have to do 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.800 is just outrun an alligator for like thirty minutes and 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.800 they'll tire out, right, And that's three minutes. Yeah, that 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.080 seems like a lot of that's a lot I would 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:30.280 tire out. I know, the alligator just laugh and laugh 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:32.720 as it swam away, like sucker. Five more minutes I 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:34.560 would have been tired out. But you only made it 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:38.159 to twenty five minutes, that's right. So one of the 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:41.400 other things is, uh, we said that they're freshwater, right 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.200 and not salty. It's because they lack of salt gland, 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.240 which is something things like sharks and shorebirds have their 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:51.440 glands that actually excrete excess salt from the body. Um 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:54.359 alligators don't have that. That's why they prefer fresh water. 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.159 But they can hang out in water as long as 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.680 it's freshwater. And they have a lot of cool add 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:02.399 up to atians. Remember their reptiles, they're not amphibians. Their 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.960 lizards basically that can hang out in the water, which 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.760 makes them pretty interesting in and of themselves. One of 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:12.359 the things that they have are um nictitating membranes over 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:16.080 their eyelids, which are just these clear second islands. They 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.600 have regular eyelids like we do, but underneath those they 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:23.480 have ones that come over as like a clear film 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.400 that cover their eyes so that they can see underwater. Yeah. 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:34.320 It's almost like a contact lens goggle hybrid. Yeah and 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:36.919 yeah and it and it functions exactly as that they 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.280 can see really well underwater. And I think they go 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.600 back to front instead of just the regular top to 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.159 bottom eyelids that they have. That's pretty neat. And the 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.520 other cool thing is when they do get underwater, they 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.720 can they close up all their holes, all their orifices. Uh, 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:57.480 they have flaps on the ears. Are you laughing at that? 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.479 They have flaps that close on their ears and their nostrils. Uh, 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.479 they have those inner eyelids already closing, and then they 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:09.520 have a flap called the palateo valve or palatal valve 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.720 probably that's what I had in my head, that closes 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:14.600 at the back of the throat, and that's going to 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.400 keep water out of the stomachs and the lung the stomach, 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:20.080 like there's more than one, the stomach and the lungs, 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:24.120 and so when they dive, there's no water getting in anywhere, 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.720 and they can stay down there for ten or twenty 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:28.880 minutes on a regular dive, or if there is some 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.520 weird reason, some threat that they have to stay under 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.879 for a couple of hours and just really rest and 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.119 chill out, they can do that too. Yeah. And that 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:41.080 palatal valve too means that, um, they can open their 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.640 mouths without water getting into their lungs, which means they 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.760 can carry their prey underwater. They can bite still and 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:52.320 manipulate things using their mouth underwater without drowning, which is 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:55.560 a big advantage, as we'll see because we're talking now, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:20:01.119 Chuck about the alligator diet and here's where it gets gnarly. Yeah, 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:05.800 it's the creepiest style of feeding. I think they are lurkers. Yeah, 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.240 they're not hunters, they're not gathers there lurkers. Yeah. There's 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.000 sort of like ticks. They wait for something to keep 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.000 come close enough for them to get it. Basically, they 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.480 stay very still. They just got those little eyeballs over 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:20.480 the water. Maybe they're nostrils if they want to breathe. 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.560 When you when you notice one that you hadn't noticed 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:27.760 before and they're so still, yeah, well that's why when 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.399 okay pinoki, we heard the growling and I was like, 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:35.240 wtf is going on? Because it's not like you look 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.399 up and there's a bunch of alligators having coffee on 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:40.320 top of the water, like you had to look and 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.520 I was like, oh my god, they're everywhere. It's very chilling, 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.160 like your your fingers going to your mouth, like, oh 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.520 my god. Uh. They don't have really sharp teeth though, 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.600 I mean those teeth look super scary. Their teeth actually 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.960 aren't even very sharp. They look really gnarly in their mouth, 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.879 but they're more for crushing, like because they need to 0:20:59.880 --> 0:21:01.800 be able to break bone and like break a big 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:07.159 sea turtle shell. Yeah, they've got some really strong jaws. 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:09.960 Their jaws have been shown to be about three to 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:15.600 exert about three thousand, three thousand p s I, which 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.800 I think makes them the sixth strongest bite on earth, 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.159 and crocodiles have them beat by about eight hundred p 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.600 s I. Yeah, crocodiles are number one. They have the 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:29.280 strongest bite. And for reference, if you're not down with 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:31.720 p s I, like you can't, just to me immediately 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:33.960 imagine what you're talking about when you hear three thousand 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:37.840 p s I. Lions and tigers. Adult lions and tigers 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.080 typically have bites of around a thousand p s I. 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:46.520 So gators and crocodiles are are mucco macho when it 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:48.840 comes to bite strength. I guess is how you put 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.000 it if you were insane. Yeah. At one point in time, 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.400 we did an episode on the Worst Ways to Die? 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:56.359 Is there a Worst way to die? About a hundred 0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:59.520 years ago, and I don't think this is included, but 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:01.359 I would have to put it on the list because 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:04.359 when an alligator gets ahold of you, it's goal is 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.480 to drag you into the water and drown you as 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:12.879 you're getting essentially, you know have the most pounds of 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.680 pressure per square inch put down on your body as 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:19.520 your bones and ribs or snack or snacking, they're snapping 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:25.680 your most snackid almost gonna that that's what they do. 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:29.560 They drown you and crush you basically and close that, 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:31.919 you know, close that flap so they're not drowning again. 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.080 And then eventually they'll they'll tear you up into bite 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:38.639 sized chunks because they can't, like I said, they can't 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.560 um Like I get the feeling when this guy was 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:46.560 feeding it the rabbit that was sort of a max size. Yeah, 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:49.159 they want, like you said, bite size for gator, and 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:51.399 I guess that's about the size of a rabbit. They 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.040 want bite sized chunks because they swallow everything whole and 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.920 they just digest it to They digest everything they eat, 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:01.480 including bone. Um. But if they happen to catch prey, 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:03.760