Paynes Prairie is a 13,000-acre freshwater marsh near Gainesville in north-central Florida, and it's been drying up all winter. A mile-long drainage canal now holds most of the Prairie's hundreds of alligators and today, during a lunchtime walk, I got to watch them taking advantage of the drought conditions; the same low water that has concentrated the gators has concentrated lots and lots of fish, especially gars and (non-native) tilapia. It's so shallow that the gators can't completely submerge, so I was able to see the action quite well. I'd hear these explosive splashes, sometimes a whole series of them that went on for several seconds at a time, and I'd look over and see gars arcing from the water like porpoises. Most of the time I think the gators missed their targets, but several times, once the communal thrashing had subsided, I saw one raise its head out of the water with a big gar or tilapia clamped between its teeth. It would then crunch the fish up, a remarkably loud, hollow sound, but I think that was merely to subdue it, because it was invariably swallowed whole after four or five loud crunches. I've seen alligators eat things before, but I've never witnessed a feeding congregation like this one. A few of the gators have become enormously fat.



Rex Rowan

Gainesville, FL

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