Gator by the River
4k Gator Wallpaper | Juvenile Aligator Stock Photo
I saw this juvenile gator by the Indian River while walking my dog one morning. Luckily for me, (and my dog) he wasn’t hungry. he stuck around long enough for me to run back into my home and grab my camera (and gun) luckily for him, I only shot him with the camera.
After having lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, the realities of living in a more rural setting where we really do share the land with wild animals (some that would like to eat us) is a bit of a culture shock and helps one to remember their place in this world.
You can tell this gator is a juvenile by his patterns. The adult gators in this area tend to be one color and are much wider. This guy was about 5 or 6 foot long nose to tail, but his bigger brothers are much larger. This gator could have been very dangerous, but I wasn’t really worried about him. I was more worried about where his mama could have been. She was probably close by, but I never saw her.
I did end up seeing this guy swimming in the river a bit later in the day. Many locals don’t realize that gators swim in the Indian River. It is a large, brackish river, and a lot of people think gators stick to fresh water. That really isn’t the case. They go wherever there is food.