Field Trip Fun - Alligator Alley & Nature Center

Recently, the girls & I went to Gulf Shores, AL with my family.  We were pretty excited about all of the different things available to us for "field trips" as we stayed in a beautiful state park there in Gulf Shores.  On site, they had a nature center, where Mango learned about many different plants and animals that are popular in AL wildlife.  She was very proud to hold a snake.

We also learned about alligators there at the nature center, and at Alligator Alley in Summerdale, AL.  We saw HUGE alligators, and the kids were even able to hold a 3 year old alligator.  If you have ever held a young gator, you would definitely say that it is a very strange feeling.  Their skin from underneath feels so thin that it is almost as if you can feel every organ that is inside them.  I am sure that as they age, their skin hardens, but it was a rather strange feeling.

 We were also able to feed the gators from a wooden walkway above the swamp, and we watched behind a fence as they were being fed by a caretaker.  I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the poor guy to get his arm taken off, but luckily, that was not the case.  It was absolutely amazing to hear the gator snap a thick bone with little to no effort.  The largest of the alligators there is Captain Crunch who was found & taken from a local neighborhood where he was attacking and eating their pets. He was picked up and brought to Alligator Alley.  Here are some facts about Captain Crunch taken from their website.  He really was amazing.

MEET CAPTAIN CRUNCH He holds the world record for bite strength…2,982 pounds! Crunch is over 800 pounds and is 13 feet 2 inches long.

HE DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS!

ALLIGATOR FACTS

• Alligators grow to a maximum length of 14 ft. Specimens over 13 ft. are rare. • Alligators of 10 ft. & above can have as much as 1,800 pounds of bite (true lbs, not psi). • An alligator’s life expectancy is 50 years max. To date, 56 is the oldest on record. • Females grow to a max size of 10 ft. & there are no external differences between sexes. • An average clutch size is around 35 eggs. • Large alligators can go as long as 18 months with no food!   This length of time is rare but not impossible. • Turtles make up the vast majority of an alligators diet,   as do otters, beavers, snakes, frogs, birds   & the occasional fish. Thankfully after this field trip, I haven't had recurrent nightmares about alligators or snakes as they are NOT a favorite of mine.  I will say that my 3 year old ran in our room in the middle of the night to tell us that we had gators in our backyard.  Fortunately, her dreams insisted that our "backyard" gators were very friendly ;o)