Alligators, although they are ectothermic and also equipped with a small brain, exhibit a surprising diversity in their responses to their environment and to each other. They 
are for more complex than mere animated logs or 12-foot-long eating machines. This group of pages show some of what I've been able to see in the years I've been 
volunteering (September of 2001 thru August of 2023) at Brazos Bend State Park.

From Brazos Bend State Park on 10/23/2022   I was watching the mom alligator near the observation tower, looking for some sign of the hatchlings. I thought I heard
an alligator bellowing in 40 Acre Lake, but but I couldn't be sure over the sound of the wind.  But the mom gator moved to a shallower spot, and prepared to bellow. After a few false starts,
 she bellowed for a full bout. Most of the events in this article appear in this video.   marker
   

When I watched the video, I noticed something interesting. All the gator literature I've seen says that only male alligators send out the Subaudible Vibrations
 (SAV) during bellowing.  I've filmed it. The alligator's back vibrates independently and produces Faraday waves--the "water dance". What we can see here is some kind of disturbance, but
it is not that prominent. This water disturbance could be from the vibration of the  bellow sound resonating in the lungs and chest and being transferred to the water.  Or,of course, I could 
be wrong.
    

I show examples of waves in a male gator's  water-dance for comparison in images below.  A definite difference is visible. This video from 2009 shows some bellows in slow motion. and
  This clip from 2013 shows a chorus of bellows. (I also added a few clips to compare with the new footage in the video for today.  The images below show 4 bellows taken at BBSP at different times.
   
                             2007                                                                              2007                                                                        2009                                                                             2013
A 2017 study ("Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators" -Reber, Janisch et.al. suggests that the audible component of bellows can give broadcast an "honest"
indication of an alligator's size because the organs which create the sound grow with the gator and affect sections of the audio signal  ("formants"). Since only the males produce the Faraday wave
 SAV broadcast (usually preceding the "roar"), listening alligators could tell if the bellower is male or female when they pick up the SAV with the ISO dots on their faces. ISOs (aka DPRs) are
tiny sensor nodules on the scales of the lower jaw and upper lip that can sense pressure waves, and possibly other conditions. ISO = Integumentary Sense Organ; DPR = Dome Pressure Receptor
Other gators bellowed in 40 acre lake. The chorusing started about 9:15, and then lasted, on-and-off about 20 minutes (9:35)
  

I stayed in the area, interpreting  for the folks coming by, and watching the mom gator and looking out at 40 Acre lake for more action. About 10:00, an alligator came into view, walking on the
currently-dry area behind the Pilant Slough channel--over where the feral hogs had chopped up the ground. The gator proceded as usual when walking over a long, dry path; about 20 steps,
then rest--repeat. I didn't count steps (since I was still interpreting) but I did time the pauses-they were only about 4 minutes long.  I knew that the alligator intended to cross the trail and enter
40Acre lake, so when it stopped in the trees near the trail, I brought the group of visitors over to wait for the crossing.
   

 We staged on both sides of the path the gator would take, and I kept a wide area open so the gator wouldn't be intimidated and give up.  The gator climbed onto the trail and rested at the
edge (as they often do) for a few minutes, then got up and crossed.   I suggest that the alligator that crossed had heard the mom gator bellowing earlier and took a long, tiring detour over land
 to avoid her.  I talked to the visitors, and demonstrated the width of the trail with my walking stick (6 feet) and showed  they could use that dimension to estimate the length of the gator in any
 images they'd caught of the crossing. The trail was 6 feet wide, and the gator was about 1-1/2 times the trail width (2nd picture below), so the gator was about 8 or 9 feet long.
   

Then back at the mom gator to watch for babies  (I'd been hearing them, but hadn't found any yet). About 20 minutes after the gator crossing, one baby moved across moms snout.  But I had
 to wait another hour until I could finally pick out the babies hiding among the plants. 
   
    

03/06/2022. Around 8am, the air was 72° F-compared to 34° F a week before! I had just gotten to the West edge of 40 Acre Lake when I saw and heard
this alligator bellowing in Pilant Lake. The alligator was about 20 yards away.  I shot photos and video, but was filming into the breeze, so the wind noise drowned out the bellowing in
the captured video. Judging by the sounds, and no vibration ripples I think this was a female.  Beautiful gator!  The first two images show the expansion of the area under her jaw while she's calling.
The other four images show her making a slight gape at the end of her bout.  I've seen other alligators do this at the end of a bout--but I'll have to go back over all of my gator social signal literature
to see if it's mentioned. The gape is not very wide, and the jaws leisurely closed as she brought her snout down to the water.

   
   Look at that temperature! 8:32am                                                                                                                                                        Gape after the bellowing bout.

Below are last two images showing her gently lowering her face into the water.   About 5 minutes later, another alligator started bellowing in 40 Acre Lake!  That one was only 50 yards from the
first one, but a bit further East, and near one of the islands in 40 Acre lake.  I had already walked past it, so I was maybe...60 yards from it.  I think this one was also female  It was a longer shot
for me, so video didn't capture the sound of her bellows, either.  Alligator mating season generally lasts March - May.  The alligators at BBSP were ready to start.
   

09/05/2021  I had witnessed some other events-including a Great Blue Heron eating a siren(shown on another page).When the heron had finished, I went back to look at the gator by
nest#5 (nest described on this page.) and talked to more visitors. At about 9:30 another large alligator swam by the one in front of the nest, and parked about 4 feet to the left and parallel
to the first one. NOW what? In a few minutes, the newcomer started to bellow!  After a couple more minutes (and a group of bellows), the alligator on the right started bellowing!  Water danced
over the alligator on the right, so I knew it was a male. It didn't dance on the left alligator, so I assumed it was female.  There chorus lasted about 5 minutes, and  at the end another alligator 
bellow a few times--but it was right next to us!  I hadn't even known it was there, and it was at least 6 feet long.  About 10 or 15 visitors watched the display with me, and although I shot video,
the distance, and the people(including me) talking covered over most of the bellowing.  The video can be seen here (mp4).
But what happened here?  After watching the video, and thinking a bit, I have an informed (by knowledge of gators) guess.
I had assumed that the original alligator was the owner of the nest, since it had been facing the bank. I'd also assumed that baby alligators were hidden somewhere in there, since
the nest had been opened. But the alligator that moved in from the right, circled past the first alligator and then started bellowing was probably a female (I.D. by no back vibrations,
low sound). The first alligator was male (judging by the visible back vibrations).  As the bellowing continued, the female moved closer to the male, and eventually got between it and
the island. I think that the female (which had started bellowing first) was the owner of the nest, and that it was trying to move the male away from the nest and from any babies that
might have been hidden there. The male did leave after the last bellows. I wish I'd thought of this while I was there, and interpreting for the park visitors.  At the time, I was surprised
by the events.

   
        
   
        
   

   
        
   

   
        
  

  
I remained in the area until 11 or so, when I left to go visit Live Oak trail to check on Apple Snail incursion (more on that, at another time, or check this page). 

05/02/2021  Even with more "spare time" it's taking me days to work on new material so I can post it. Part of the reason is that I get more new material before I've completed
editing of the previous new material--because I have more of that "spare time" to go get the new material. Oh, darn. LOL
So, here's how the alligator I described in the earlier post (further down the page) got to be on the trail.  I've put it all into this edited video. The images below (with 2 exceptions)
are all frame grabs from the video.  
At about 8:45AM, this alligator crossed the trail and entered 40-Acre Lake.  When I got to its crossing point I saw this alligator near one of the islands. It was chewing on something.
The alligator that had crossed the trail swam across to this alligator.
 
         Alligator crossed the trail ahead of me.                                 This alligator was chewing on something.                 This alligator crossed the trail and crossed to the island.
The gator at the bank turned its head to watch the alligator that was approching.   I've seen many alligator contacts like this. As the distance lessened, the gator on the bank was being
 challenged.  It could choose suddenly take off to the side, or quickly turn and rush the challenger or even escape onto the island.  This face-off continued, and NONE of those things
 happened.  Slow movement of the tail-could prepare for burst of speed.
  
                Stealthy swim up to the resting gator.                                          Getting even closer.                                          Careful movement of the tail by the gator at the edge.
During a close confrontation like this, both gators often move carefully-neither escalating aggression or signalling submission. Sometimes, something triggers a burst of quick
movement! In this case, somehow the gator that I thought would be dominated-wasn't.  The interloper backed off. It's very subtle, but the "challenger" allowed its body to sink,
lowering its back so it was underwater. The interloper turned away, the "defender" turned toward it...and a chase began!
   
      The rear gator lowered its back under the water.         The bigger gator backed off, the smaller gator turned...      ...and then the smaller gator started chasing the larger!
Was this a "catch me if you can" chase?  Or a "get out of here before you get bitten" chase?  Or something else?   Swimming speed of both alligators increased. The gator doing the
 chasing is smaller than the one being chased!  I had to walk quickly to keep up with them.
   
                The alligators moved faster....                                                     ...and faster....                                            I had to walk quickly to keep pace with the swimming gators.
The smaller alligator stopped chasing, but the larger one kept swimming.  Alligator mating/courtship season is March-May; and this was in May.  The alligator stopped swimming about
 20 yards in front of another alligator that was at the edge of the lake.  Alligators started bellowing Northwest--somewhere in Pilant Lake. When a chorus starts, I watch the gators
 near me and look for their reaction. But aside from a minor raise of the snout from this one, not much visible reaction from these two.  The alligator in the deep water started moving
 toward the one on the bank. I believe that the two alligators were aware of each other.  In my experience, when there is a chorus of bellowing, a gator that wants to join the chorus will
 get into shallow water before bellowing.  The deep water gator moved a bit closer.  The gator at the shoreline turned a bit, and the deep water gator stopped.
  
                The big gator stopped in front of....                                            ....this gator near the bank.                                 The gator at the bank crawled up to the trail.
 The alligator at the shoreline climbed out of the water and up to the trail.  I really hoped to watch it cross the trail.  But nope. I've seen many gators make the climb to the
 trail just to stop at the edge. Often, they rest a few minutes, then get up and continue across. Sometimes, they lift their hips and cloaca off the ground and poop before continuing on.
   
                High-walk onto the trail.                                                                  A few more steps...                                                    ...and then down to rest.
The gator flopped down to rest, while the other gator remained at the same spot in the lake.  I'm often asked if a gator is male or female.  One can guess  based on some things . If
 guarding a nest or babies=female.  If over 10ft long=male.  Back vibration when bellowing=male.  And then there's this behavior, which I've seen 2 other gators do some years ago
 and which shows that this one is a male.  Gators don't flash people, and they don't smirk. But it sure looked like it. I've documented this behavior once in 2014 (scroll down to5/18/2014),
 and once in 2016 (scroll down to 3/27/2016), on my web pages. Male alligator "junk" is extended by actions using cloacal muscles. In this case, the alligator does seem to poop.
 Not so in my other 2 cases. I'd found an article(link is still good) describing the anatomy involved, and even emailed the author of that study describing my observations.  But they
 could give no direct reason for this behavior.    And that's how the alligator ended up on the trail.--and how I was sure it was a male.
    
                The alligator lifted its cloaca up to poop.                      The gator also showed me that it was a male.                          The alligator stopped for a while.

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