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--
--
-ONE TWO THREE FOUR
IN THIS VIDEO 216MB
Alligators
although amphibious (not AMPHIBIANS) are in the water most of
the time
when they are active. Therefore it is worthy of note when they are
on land, especially
when they are doing more than just absorbing solar
energy. Here is yet another page of terrestrial alligator
antics.
06/11/2006--Some
readers may recall the lower water levels experienced by BBSP in
June.
All of the the images below are frame captures from video clips I
shot
during this time. I've
upgraded the video, and they are all in this video 216 mb. I was
watching a large alligator foraging in what remained in Pilant
Slough just
West of the Spillway Bridge. (see ONE, TWO below).
As I was filming, I
heard a "SLAP!" sound behind me. This would be across the trail,
in Pilant
Lake. I turned, looked, and immediately swiveled the camera
around. A Great
Blue Heron had
caught a good-sized bowfin (latin name amia calva)
! (see THREE, FOUR, below). I quietly moved the camcorder and
tripod about
3 steps and began filming.
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ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
IN
THIS VIDEO 216MB
-
FIVE
The Great
Blue Heron dropped the bowfin, and to my amazement, the bowfin was
still
very much alive! I was trying to take still photos while
the
camcorder was filming, so the fish flopped almost out of view. The
Heron
stabbed it again, and then neatly swallowed the fish.
(see
FIVE above, and SIX through ELEVEN, below).
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-
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
IN
THIS VIDEO 216MB
--
TEN
When
the Great Blue Heron finished, I quietly returned the 3 steps to my
original
position to watch the large alligator.
The
alligator almost immediately left the slough and headed up towards
the
Spillway Trail. (see TWELVE below). It stopped
among
the plants at the edge of the trail to rest. I set my camera to be
ready
for his trail crossing. Suddenly, just beyond
the
alligator, and on
the opposite side of the water, a large feral hog came
out of the trees with a group of six or eight
piglets
(see THIRTEEN, below). Hardly daring to move, I started filming
the hog.
I'd never
been able to see one this close
while
I had camera! The adult hog grunted once--which sent the
piglets
scurrying back to the trees--and went down to the
water's
edge. There, it began
nosing about in the water, and eating some of the
plants (see FOURTEEN, below). Meanwhile,
the
alligator (which I hadn't forgotten, since it was at least 30 feet
closer
to me than the hog
was) did something which I
thought
was very odd. Right after the hog disturbed the water, the
alligator turned
around, faced the hog (which was
at LEAST
30 feet away from it) and gaped
(see FIFTEEN below). (This is also the
RICKUBISCAM image.)
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--
--
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
IN
THIS VIDEO 216MB
- -
FIFTEEN
The
oblivious hog continued about its business, and finally laid down
to wallow
in the shallow water.(see SIXTEEN below)
The
alligator got up and walked back to the slough. This is a large
alligator,
and it took a number of steps to return to the
slough.
(see SEVENTEEN, EIGHTEEN below). When the alligator entered the
water,
it went straight towards the hog.
(see
NINETEEN,
TWENTY, below).
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--
--
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
-
TWENTY
The
low amount of water prevented the alligator from being totally
submerged,
and the hog became aware of its approach.
The
hog stood up and went to land. As the alligator still got closer,
the hog
turned and looked at it. There was a brief
moment
where it seemed they might be nose-to-nose, and also obscured by
the overhanging
trees. There was NO way I dared
move
anything for fear of defusing whatever this situation was. But,
the hog
turned away and returned to the safety of the trees.
(see
TWENTYONE through TWENTYFIVE below).
I found
the behavior of the alligator mystifying, surprising, and a little
alarming.
This alligator had moved well away from the
water,
and was going to cross the trail. It was hidden from
view--even from a
protective wild sow. Even at that distance AWAY from
the
water, disturbance at the water's edge caught the alligator's
attention.
Not only that, but the alligator moved
straight back
to the
water and apparently stalked this LARGE animal. If the water had
been deep
enough to hide the alligator, would it have
attacked
the hog if it could have gotten close
without detection? I don't know.
-
-
-
-
TWENTYONE
TWENTYTWO
TWENTYTHREE
TWENTYFOUR
IN
THIS VIDEO 216MB
TWENTYFIVE
Not long
after the hog left, the alligator left the water again, and came
up to
the trail. This time, after a very brief rest,
it gaped.
I've seen alligators gape in an apparent intimidation
display
before crossing.
It seems that the "temperature
regulation"
gaping is repeated over intervals with the period of time with the
jaws
open getting longer while the time between
gapes
gets
shorter--until the mouth is held open in this "midway-open"
position.
After
the gape, the alligator got up and highwalked across the trail. I
ALWAYS
love seeing the highwalk! (see TWENTYSIX
through
THIRTY, below).
I saw
ALL of this in about 40 minutes--without moving more than three
steps.
Who needs television? I was THERE!
--
--
--
TWENTYSIX
TWENTYSEVEN
TWENTYEIGHT
TWENTYNINE
WATCH
THIS CLIP (25MB) FOR TWENTYSIX THROUGH THIRTY
--
THIRTY
WHY did it take about 3
months before I posted this?? Although these events only took
about 40
minutes to happen, it took me HOURS to edit the material, reformat
it,
decide
how to present it, upload it, and lay it out. These events were
astounding, and I wanted others to be able to see them. I hope I
was able
to transmit some of the wonder I
experienced. NOTE--I
upgraded the videos on 8/6/2019, and put it all into TWO video
fileS. A lot has changed with
the internet since 2006.
Go back to my main alligator page, Alligators
Go
back to my home page, Welcome
to
rickubis.com
Go
back
to the RICKUBISCAM
page.
Go
back
to the See the
World
page.