Face to face with an alligator

Maybe there are not as many alligators and crocodiles here in Florida as there are Cubans, but they are the most visible simbol of that place. It’s not only Florida Gators team, but all the gifts, stickers and warnings "Do not feed alligators". People in Florida seem to be proud of their most famous animals. Our experience with them was so far …well, none. So we’ve decided to do something about it. Inspired by a great website www.roadsideamerica.com, we took a trip to alligator and crocodile farm called Gatorama in Palmdale, FL.

Yes, alligators and crocodiles. Unlike many people think, it’s not the same. 

So what’s the difference between alligator and crocodile? That’s what we learned in Gatorama:

- alligators snouts are rounded and short while crocodiles are long and narrow

- alligators are blackish and crocodiles are more of a brown-tanish color

- alligators are easily frightened and avoid confrontation, crocodiles are more aggressive

- alligators maximum size is around 13 feet, crocodiles are larger and their average lenght is around 16 feet (just to compare, our trailer is 18 feet long)

- alligators have a tong and crocodiles don’t

- crocodiles like warmer temperatures than alligators (Ola thinks she might be genetically related to crocodiles)

- alligators eyes are on top of its head and crocodiles eyes are set into its head (Pawel thinks Ola might be genetically related to alligators)

- alligators teeth are only visible in the front of their mouths when their jaws are closed and crocodiles teeth are visible all around their jaw when it’s shut.

There’s also a difference in number of them living in Florida. There’s more than a million alligators here, and only about 2 thousand crocodiles.

Entrance fee to Gatorama is 14.95 USD for an adult and 6.95 USD for Maciek, but if you search online you can easily find discount coupons. The trip starts with a long bridge over the pond in which alligators and crocodiles swim. Swim is too much to say, most of them just lay still and even if you hit them on a head with a piece of bread (you can buy a bag of bread at the entrance for additional dollar) they don’t even bother to open their eye, which makes local birds very happy. 

They start moving when the feeding time, which is twice a day. Lady who feeds them comes there with a bucket full of chicken meat, calls the most dangerous exhibits and then runs with a stick to poke the lazy ones. Then she comes back to the bridge and feeds them talking to the audience at the same time.

After feeding she invited us to hold a baby alligator. After passing the pond there’s an alley with cages on both sides. There are alligators and crocodiles, some older, some younger. The youngest ones were interested in bread we threw at them. They’ll probably grow out of it.

Lady got into one of the cages, she took one of the youngsters and taped his snout with isolation tape...

..and after giving us short instruction she gave it to us.

It was much softer than we expected.

Besides alligators and crocodiles in Gatorama there are different birds, panther (we saw feeding too), bobcat, skunk and cute animal which name we don’t remember.

There was also a movie giving even more information about alligators and crocodiles and see them getting out of eggs. We regreted we wouldn’t be here in August, that’s when they are born and you can come and see (and touch) it yourself. We really liked Gatorama  It’s another place showing that it’s possible to make a zoo (or mini-zoo like in this case) where you can touch and feed animals and learn more about them in more unusual, interactive way.