ALLIGATOR BEHAVIOR page 6i: ON LAND; WALKING AND BASKING page 10   page 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
This page was born 09/05/2024.  Rickubis designed it.  (such as it is.) Last update:
Images and contents on this page copyright ©2001-2024  Richard M. Dashnau 

Alligators are amphibious (but not AMPHIBIANS) and are in the water most of the time. 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.

08/20/2023  After the second dry summer in a row, I started watching an alligator moving through mud at 9am. It was working towards the water visible in the center.  It
would move a bit, then rest. In situations like this, I wonder what caused the alligator to move in this direction. Did it see the water? Did it remember that it's usually deeper
 this way? Was it "going downhill"?  The fourth image shows birds (I think the larger one is a juvenile Gallinule), moving easily on the surface of the mud.  I've condensed
about 90 minutes of this experience into this 10 minute video.


It took 45 minutes to get to the "water", but it was just more mud. The alligator turned and followed the water towards towards the deeper part of the lake. Progress continued
 at the same laborious pace. The alligator occasionally tried to use its tail for thrust, but the mud was too thick to swim through. I wondered if the mud was acting like a
"non-newtonian" fluid. That is, if the alligator moved slowly it would cause the mud to become more fluid, but if it moved quickly, the mud would become more solid.
In any case, the alligator had a hard time. The alligator continued with the stoic persistence that I always admire.



While that alligator was struggling through the mud, there was more activity in the remaining puddle a bit to the North. Two alligators were chased out of the puddle by
another alligator.  They moved South, and got up into the mud.



About 15 minutes later, the alligator moving through the mud found more water and the two alligators that had been chased. It was obviously fatigued. The other two probably
were, also. While "my" alligator slowly passed the other two and moved into more water, another alligator that  was already in there, moved towards "my" alligator. The
remaining pool was also filled with birds, mostly Common Gallinules. 
One hour after I started watching, the large gator moved in, passing through the birds and hyacinth,
and was met by the smaller alligator.  "My" alligator backed away, even though it was larger. The water is usually at least 4 feet deep in this area. It was much shallower here.



The smaller alligator moved parallel with the larger one. There was a long pause-this often happens in such confrontations-as they both evaluated the situation. The
smaller one moved forward (while the large one moved further away), and then started low growls, with head raised and tail arched. Not full bellows, but very soft croaks or
 growls. The large gator turned back North, and moved past the croaking smaller gator. The smaller gator turned and swam alongside--as if escorting the large one to the
edge of the lake. It stopped and croaked a few more times as "my" gator continued North. I assumed that it would continue to that bank and cross the trail there. The small
gator turned west and moved through the hyacinth.  About 30 minutes later, an alligator there started croaking. I'm not sure if it was the same one that had been croaking
before, because I lost track of which one was which as more alligators moved around. There were also a few bellows, but they stopped before I could catch them on video.

 
  And, this page shows alligators at the park, on land, near various landmarks at the park.

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