See you later, alligator
Never smile at a crocodile, and if you come face to face with a Crocodilian and he happens to be wearing crocs you are visiting with a crocodile. Not an alligator. Alligators, while in the same order as Crocodiles have webbed feet and no separated toes. The two reptile types are in different families. And they don’t interbreed. There are no Allidiles or Crocogators. It may be in part because the alligator does not fancy the V-shaped head of the crocodile. Humans share a common ancestor but while humans have been around only a few hundred thousand years, the alligator has walked, or slithered, the earth for around ten million years.
Why do I care so much these days about alligators? We are going to be neighbors!
Yes, we will be sharing our time living beside Alligator Bay (a bay behind the barrier island of Topsail, NC). There are many tales and much folklore about the pirates that hid in the marshes behind the island, eventually discovered because their top sails were exposed from certain vantage points on other ships. It’s entertaining to think that Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, sailed the same waters that we do when in our kayaks. In Alligator Bay.
Should we be cautious because alligators are around? Most certainly. Perhaps not any more than when around certain other relatives during the holidays. If I encounter an alligator I will not be calling this distant relative, Bro.
I have been thinking about alligators for the last week and with nothing more profound or uplifting to muse about here, some additional facts.
Elizabeth and I strolled out in the early morning on a nearby golf course last weekend at Topsail, the one that had a sign saying, “Beware of snakes and alligators.” It was peaceful and quiet. Birds were chirping. Then came the bellow from across the course near the marsh. I had never heard the sound before, at least not in the wild. Sounds like the bellow of a bullfrog but with the longer and more intense roar of a bear. Like most males, I wanted to hang around a little while. Elizabeth was ready to move on. We had no reason to be afraid but the experience was novel.
Upon my later research it turns out that the majority of negative alligator encounters with humans are with men, not women. Some of this is simply because there are more male fishermen than female ones. The other reason is that males are more stupid.
But I also learned that alligators do not dine when the temperature is below seventy degrees. The colder it is the more dormant the alligator becomes. It was cool out when we heard the bellow. Based on recordings that we listened to, the alligator was likely engaged in a mating call. When the gator is pissed the sound is a lot more threatening.
We own marsh property off of Alligator Bay. Alligators breed in waters that are not too brackish. The adult alligator can live in a saltier environment but the young cannot. With climate change there are two issues that will affect our future encounters with our good Brother Gator. Seas are rising, as much as a foot in the next thirty years. That prediction applied to our property will push the brackish bay into our property. The potential for alligator breeding in our marsh will be reduced.
Because temperatures are rising, in the next thirty years North Carolina’s climate will be more like Alabama’s today. Alligators like it warmer and they are increasingly found farther inland near freshwater and farther north into Virginia. When the North Carolina Tarheels become the Carolina Gators, it will probably be time to leave the area or, given my age, the Earth.
Meanwhile, I will maintain a respect for my new neighbors, and I will be the newbie. I read that if one can run reasonably fast for ten seconds or so then they can outrun a gator, who cannot breathe well on land. In the water it’s a different story. Alligators are less dangerous and smaller than crocodiles and only attack when provoked or are defending their nest. But, if you are in the jaws of one, it is advised that you should stick one arm down his throat and punch his nose with the other. You might convince him that you are not worth the bother. And perhaps, live to be able to say, “See you later, alligator!”