Wildlife notes for foreign readers
I am always amazed by how many readers rivercityvibe has in other countries. I have monitoring software originally developed for the CSS which allows me to pinpoint readers’ exact locations, wherever they might be. All the evidence points to rivercityvibe being a global phenomenon.
[In fact, I’d like to take this opportunity to give a big shout out to our lone but loyal reader in Tuvalu (pop. 11,000). Tuvalu mo te Atua, buddy!]
My point is, not everyone who reads this is from the First Coast. Some readers will not have the same terms of reference as us, and may be surprised to read this sort of thing, spotted in the local rag, this weekend:
[an alligator] was seen last year crossing the Oklawaha River with a black bear in his maw.
To us, that’s pretty routine. To see alligators with black bears in their mouths (or maws -nice touch). Our local fauna snack on black bears. No big deal. Particularly given the size of the fucker:
Got him in the end.
Anyway, the guys in the picture track and kill enormous great big alligators for a living. That’s the way we roll, here in North Florida. Facts, from the paper (check out the last one):
– The Florida record for the biggest gator caught is 14 feet and 5/8th inches, taken from Lake Monroe in Seminole County.
– The heaviest gator on record was a male measuring 13 feet and 101/2 inches long and weighing 1,043 pounds.
– The population of alligators in Florida was in danger in the mid-1960s, but they have come back strong. Biologists estimate the state’s gator population is 1.25 million.
– Since 1948, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has documented 356 alligator attacks on humans. Of those, 25 were fatal. Nine other cases involved humans who might have been dead before the attack.
Only 25. Doesn’t seem many…….