More gators could be on prowl

THE EVERGLADES ALLIGATORS

More gators could be on prowl

Posted on Thu, Apr. 12, 2007

BY CURTIS MORGAN
cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com
When alligator mating season heats up in a few weeks, there is a possibility that the drought could push more big reptiles into some neighborhoods, particularly western ones fringing the Everglades.

It's a prospect that might put brown lawns and dirty cars in perspective.
Gators start showing up around this time every year, lurking on suburban lawns or snapping in backyard lakes -- on the hunt for sex, food and, in the case of smaller males, a wet haven safely away from hormonally juiced, cannibalistic, bigger gators.

Dry conditions in the Everglades, as well as lower suburban ponds and canals, could put more gators on the prowl. But Lindsey Hord, nuisance alligator coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, doesn't expect any significant change from an annual movement that grew more unsettling after three fatal attacks on humans last May.
Hord, mindful of public jitters, stressed that the ability of gators to make long-distance treks is often overstated.

''There is no wholesale migration to the urban areas,'' he said. Gators, he said, typically range no more than 1,000 meters.

But communities just east of the state water conservation areas, where gators are persistent issues, could see a bump in sightings.

''There may be some trying to get around the bigger, dominant animals, but where are they going to go?'' he said. ``It's like a gauntlet. What they usually do is just get killed.''
Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida scientist who monitors gator and crocodile populations in South Florida, said less is known about their behavior during the extreme droughts possible this year.

Gators wallow out their own holes in the marsh and are capable of living a month burrowed into mud, a survival tactic called aestivating, Mazzotti said.

But others, driven by hunger as water holes dry up, might well make longer treks than normal.
''It's not like a mass exodus, but if the number increases from 1 percent to 5 percent, that's a lot more,'' he said. ``On the receiving end, you'd notice them showing up.''

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