Most people have seen programs on television showing crocodiles attacking large animals like deer and cattle. While this is amazing, and sometimes horrifying, those 
creatures are not alligators. The function of a crocodile's teeth is somewhat different than an alligator's. Alligators favor prey items that will fit inside their head. That is, 
if they can swallow it whole, then they will normally attack it. While I've heard witnesses tell of alligators taking deer in the park, the prey was very small fawns. Alligators
have also been seen with large nutria. But, most of the time, they will eat things like small fish, frogs, and crayfish. Snakes and turtles are also pursued, with alligators 
seeming to be especially well-adapted for eating turtles. A recent study done in Texas examined the stomach contents of about 50 alligators (which were unharmed). 
Research showed that only one of these alligators had eaten a bird (which couldn't be identified, it might have already been carrion when taken), and the rest had 
stomach full of small fish and shellfish.  I've seen 11-foot alligators going after prey that was no larger than their largest teeth (very small frogs and fish).

January 18, 2004  Okay, so we got a little cool weather today.  No big deal. Not when compared to the below-zero (F!) temperatures that have been reported in the Northeast US this 
week! So, the temperature stayed under 45 degrees, or at least it felt that way at Brazos Bend State Park. We'd gotten about 3 inches of rain recently, so water was high, and it was 
flowing nicely over the spillway between Pilant Lake and Pilant Slough. If the weather had been a bit warmer (perhaps mid-sixties with lots of sun), alligators would have been there,
looking for fish being swept through the spillway. The alligators didn't show, but quite a few of our wading birds did.  Visitor attendance at the park was slow, and it was a pleasure to
be outside at the silent park watching the wading birds fishing (a lot of them seemed to be eating crawfish).
A little later, I had returned to the bridge from the direction of the Observation Tower. At the tower end, I noticed a large  alligator in the water (the entire head was over 12 inches long).
All that showed was the top of its head, and its nostrils (DON'T LIKE COLD, below). I shouted to some visitors who'd just passed if they had seen the alligator. A few minutes later, this
alligator raised its snout about and inch out of the water, and made one snort. Then it submerged its head as shown, and a few bubbles came from its mouth. I was about 8 feet away.
As I looked at this alligator through my binoculars (close-focus binoculars are very useful), I noticed something odd (see SOMETHING WRONG, below).  For one thing, its eye seems
to be damaged (see BAD EYE, below).  I moved a little closer, and tried to get a look from the side (see SIDE OF HEAD). To me, it looks like a twig of some kind is broken off 
behind the eye, and about one-half inch in from the crease at the back of the eye (see THORN?, below, near the center of the picture). I couldn't see any better than this, so I can't tell
what this is, or how this could have happened. The alligator's eye is definitely bad, though. The alligator never showed any more of itself while I was watching, and it finally slowly (very
slowly) sank under the water. This was one of only two alligators I saw today. The other one was that female whom I've seen every weekend since Dec. 28, on the East side of Elm 
Lake. Only her head was visible, near where I think she has a den. The yearling alligators were not visible.
--
              I DON'T LIKE COLD!                                  SOMETHING WRONG                                        BAD EYE                  

  -  -
                   SIDE OF HEAD                                            THORN?

January 25, 2004  Finally, at the Spillway Bridge, I could see the three alligators. They were on one side of the bridge, about 12 feet away. On the other side of the bridge, though, there
was another alligator directly below! Unfortunately, this one is in pretty bad shape, and is probably the one that's been reported around that area since last summer. I'm certain that this
is the same alligator I saw last week.  This time, the entire body is visible, and he's really emaciated (see SICK 'GATOR, below). The backbone is actually protruding, and the flesh 
behind the head and around the front leg joints is sunken (see, DORSAL DETAIL, below). I looked closer at the head, and saw that the same eye damage I'd noticed last week was 
visible, but the other eye is also gone. Close inspection through binoculars showed the left socket to be filled with sunken, milky tissue (see SHRUNKEN HEAD, below). So, sadly, this
alligator is totally blind.
-----------
                          SICK 'GATOR                                                         DORSAL DETAIL                                                SHRUNKEN HEAD
It's hard to say how this happened. I can't see any other scar tissue, so I don't think another alligator did this, although it's possible.  I'd hate to think that he was purposely maimed by one
of the park visitors. In any case, it's sad to see this large (at least 10 foot long) specimen in such a state. Although he's evidently blind, he can still hunt, after a fashion. For one thing, his 
senses of hearing and smell still work. He can also use the Integumentary Sense Organs on his jaws (see Alligators page 4  FEEDING ) to find food. He can also eat any carrion he can 
find. He almost certainly will never again eat enough to maintain a decent body mass, and will probably eventually starve to death. The park staff usually lets nature take its course with the
animals in the park. The point is to allow the animals to be wild. As with certain other examples of the wheel of life, I don't have to like this, but there it is.

February 15, 2004 Today's weather was bright, and cold (mid 30's to mid 40's). I didn't see much when I was on the trails before lunchtime, but I heard, later in the afternoon, about two
interesting items. The first was a large alligator with a nutria in its mouth on the island in Elm Lake across from the area between piers 2 and 3.  I heard about this around 4 o'clock PM, 
but went out to see anyway. And, it was there, although difficult to see. I got a few pictures, but at that distance, and through brush, they didn't come out well. (see HAIRY MOUTHFUL, 
below, and be sure to click on the image)
---------------------------------
               HAIRY MOUTHFUL
Still, it is a noteworthy event, since I heard (I'll have to see if I can find this in some literature somewhere) that alligators can't digest prey if their internal temperature drops below 70 degrees
fahrenheit. Since we've had low temperatures (40 degrees +\- 5 degrees) for the last week or so, it stands to reason that the alligators are all below this temperature. If at all possible the 
park naturalists will see if the alligator actually eats the nutria, or leaves it. While I watched for about 15 minutes, the alligator didn't move at all, but just laid there with the mass of the nutria
in its jaws. Mark, the volunteer who told me about this, said he'd first seen it at about 12:00 today, near the time I was in the VC giving my alligator program. So, the alligator had been in 
this situation for at least 4 hours by the time I saw it. After looking at the alligator with its nutria, I went and looked for the log, which turned out to be less than 5 minutes' walk from one of our
parking areas.

November 28, 2004 Today was certainly a NON-typical day at Brazos Bend State park. The Brazos River, and Big Creek-which meet at the Southeast end of the park-were both swollen 
with rainwater, and were much higher than usual. The Brazos River had breached its banks, and Big Creek was backflowing into the park via Pilant Slough, although it had already breached
its banks in some areas. I was on the trails in the morning, and it was a beautiful day.
--------------   -
                                           ALLIGATOR WITH SKIN                                   WITH SKIN CLOSER
However, the water slowly crept into the park. Here are some pictures I took as I walked the park, and also did a short riding patrol with Chuck and Sharon. I had scheduled two interpretive
programs, or else I would have stayed out on the trails longer. The picture above shows an alligator that had come up onto the 40-Acre Lake trail (which hadn't flooded...yet) with a deerskin
in its jaws (I said the alligator had a fur coat. I didn't say it was wearingit.) The skin had probably gotten washed into the water by the flooding, where the alligator had found it. The alligator
moved back into the water and slowly swam off when I got closer.   

UPDATE 12/04/2004:
Chuck Duplant and Sharon Hanzik had dropped me off at the VC/NC so I could do my programs. While I was inside doing my programs, we had another alligator eating turtle incident by Elm
Lake.  Chuck was there with his camera, though, and got some pictures, which he was kind enough to share with me. He's also given me permission to post them here. Mark Garbutt was also
there, and he described what happened. They were near one of the Elm Lake benches (one that I'd cleared the rice in front of) and were watching a small alligator in Elm Lake, when one of the
visitors exclamed something like "Holy Cow, look at that!" and a large alligator (about 9 ft.?) came from Pilant Lake, got up on the trail in front of everyone and-in about 45 minutes-crushed and
swallowed a good-sized pond turtle.  Below are images I made from a series of 4 that Chuck Duplant emailed us. Thanks Chuck, for letting me use them here!  One of these days, I'll get to 
witness an event like this. I have another incident of this type (photos and videos taken by John Bradford) shown on my webpages here.  I have read that part of the reason that alligators have
evolved their tremendous jaw muscles and heavy, strong skulls is to take advantage of this food source.  That is; large, slow-moving turtles.  This may make some sense, since alligators 
haven't also evolved the meshed-tooth arrangement that the crocodiles have for efficiently tearing large carcasses apart. Also note that the entire turtle is swallowed. I mean that the shell
fragments are not spat out, or picked through.

   -   -   --
                            UP ON THE BANK                                              ON THE BANK-- CLOSER                                                 HARD TO SWALLOW                                             HARD TO SWALLOW-- CLOSER

---------------------------------
                                          FINALLY THE SHELL IS BREACHED                        EVERYTHING IS SWALLOWED AND DIGESTED

If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:

Brazos Bend State Park   The main page.

Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Page  The volunteer's main page.

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

           Go back to my main alligator page, Alligators

           Go back to my home page, Welcome to rickubis.com
           Go to the main alligator page