Alligator found 20 miles out to sea swimming with whales
Stunned researchers came across the Georgia alligator while they were looking for North Atlantic right whales.
By Bryan NelsonMon, Mar 22 2010 at 5:06 AM EST
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WAYWARD GATOR: What was this freshwater alligator doing so far out at sea? (Photo: Georgia Department of Natural Resources) If you were a shipwrecked sailor lost 20 miles out to sea, you'd probably imagine having a lot more dire things to worry about than getting chomped by a 5-foot freshwater alligator — but think again.
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In a bizarre discovery, researchers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources were out conducting a study on North Atlantic right whales when they came across something they'd never expect to see so far out at sea: a Georgia alligator.
According to the report, the first to spot the wayward gator were whale observers Monica Zani and Heather Foley, who at first thought they were looking at a partially submerged tire or perhaps a dead alligator carcass washed out to sea. When the boat was pulled in closer, however, the researchers were surprised to see that the animal was still alive and able to swim.
"Heavy rains that washed marsh wrack and other debris miles into the sea from the mouth of the Altamaha River may be to blame for the bizarre event," said Georgia Department officials Christina Summers and Brad Winn.
The report noted that the crew came across a rip-line of marsh wrack (accumulated dead marsh grass), pollen and other swept items shortly after discovering the gator, likely all pulled out to sea on the same river plume. It's possible that the gator was too chilled by the cold river currents to fight the water that carried it.
One of the reasons that the discovery was so unusual is that Georgia alligators are typically a freshwater species. Although they occasionally venture into salt or estuarine waters in search of food, they are ill-equipped for sea voyages and prefer to stay close to shore. "They feed heavily on marine fish, raccoons and feral hogs in the marshes, and swimming in the surf is not an unusual observation," Winn said. "On more than one occasion we have pulled stingray barbs out of the cheeks of 12-foot males."
Unfortunately, the fate of this mysterious ocean alligator is unknown, since researchers left the scene shortly after snapping a few photographs. "Considering that we were in an inflatable boat 20 miles offshore, we didn’t want to risk having the gator inadvertently puncture the boat," said Foley.
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ruff junkie
04/07/2010 12:05 PM
RUFFFFFFFF JUNKIEEEEEE
Writspirit
03/29/2010 12:45 PM
This goes along with something I read that Drunvalo Melchizedek said about the changing currents of water and how fresh water was starting to merge with salt water. It is salt water that drives the currents that keep the world balance. The salt runs lateral and then drops far down and then climbs back up, something like a churning wheel. With fresh water diluting this salt, it is disrupting the process by which this wheel works and the salt is not dropping as low any longer. In fact,.... More
hah
11/18/2010 13:24 PM
yeah yeah
ktcale
08/07/2010 15:55 PM
WOW they see an alligator at sea and you turn it into a environmental rant...get another hobby....please
Nermal
03/26/2010 20:16 PM
The fact that people are saying that these guys are murderers is just too funny. They were in an inflatable boat, you fools. What could they have possibly done? Whip out their handy satellite phones and call the PETA hotline? Then, while waiting for PETA to track down their location, grab the gator's tail so it doesn't go anywhere? Man, it's a shame, but that gator is probably dead. Natural selection, folks. If they were in a big, sturdy boat...which they were not... then yes...your arguments.... More
oh
03/26/2010 14:16 PM
I've seen animals disrupt another animal as they fight for the food at hand. The lion shouldn't get between the other lion and its food. Might cause a world wide herpes plague. People Are Animals. I won't rescue someone from a murderer, nature takes it's course. Otherwise I might interfere with retards posting Let The Animal Die. F**k sticks. LOL
Samuel
11/17/2010 22:10 PM
"I won't rescue someone from a murderer, nature takes it's course."
So you admit that you lack a conscience. Gee, real nice. Please seek therapy.
NED
03/24/2010 16:57 PM
It is well known that Alligators are travelers and adventurers...why do you think they always end up swimming up and biting you in the culo? They are in sewers, sometimes in toilets....even Lake Placid, and most recently 20 miles out at sea.... Damn I even read one time that Christopher Columbus actually followed his alligator navigator to the Americas...then shot the mother ***** and took all the credit..... f****** alligators
wfhgfd
03/24/2010 16:47 PM
How many of you have been in an inflatable boat or a zodiac? Now how many of you have seen the show the crocodile hunter? Imagine trying to pull a 9 foot alligator into a inflatable boat... tail thrashing, claws scratching, no biting.. wait, i think they have teeth right?.. Well, lets say you manage to get it in the boat.. Chances are, i'd say at around 95%, you're now sitting in a leaking slowly sinking boat with an alligator, 20 miles out to sea.. I'm sorry animal lovers out there.. but.... More
U Rookies
03/24/2010 16:10 PM
Obviously none of you have worked with the parks system or other organizations that work to preserve natural environments, it's a long standing rule by folks who care and work hard at preserving nature that humans do not interfere.
Clack
03/24/2010 15:09 PM
Upon further reflection, I have to admit I was definately in the wrong on this one. Obviously rescuing an animal so far out of its element would, without a doubt, disrupt natural evolution in ways only vaguely imaginable. Nature and animals should be left as is and certainly not ****** with. I will take your philosophy to heart and should I ever encounter an animal or perhaps even a human being in a life threatening situation simply remind myself that I am witnessing nature and evolution in.... More
toby
03/24/2010 13:06 PM
They left it out there? They should all be shot where is PETA???? these men are nothing short of MURDERERS! Wait... what? they were Americans? ahh ok nm it's all good well done skipper, good show.
Mervin
03/24/2010 12:44 PM
I once also confused a gator with a submerged tire and it cost me not only my hand, but also my promising badminton career. I could never get the hang of serving left handed. Have you ever tried to play badminton with a hook for a hand? I will never attempt to retrieve another submerged tire... it's just not worth it.
Lisa
04/07/2010 20:15 PM
And people took you seriously?! I think you're hilarious!
Skip
03/24/2010 12:50 PM
I feel for you Mervin. You were just thinking "hey, free tire" and moments later you lose a hand. That's tough. I'm sure now when you see an alligator you think "hey, new boots".
Thank you for trying to keep our environment clean while feeding the animals.
Al Gore
03/24/2010 12:58 PM
Merv, the only thing better than a free tire is buying a couple dozen copies of my movie "An Inconvenient Truth".
You'll probably be interested in my next project, entitled "Hook-Handed Badminton Players: The Key to Curing AIDS".
100% of scientists who have dedicated their lives to finding a cure for AIDS from Hook-Handed Badminton Players agree that hook-handed badminton players HAVE to be the key to curing AIDS.
SW
03/24/2010 12:41 PM
Just blame it on global warming, seems to work with everything else
JR
03/25/2010 08:52 AM
I saw something from Digg that this winter was the coldest on record for Siberia! Must be global warming again! Also, all that snow we got in the Northeast US. Damn you, manbearpig!
ugh
03/24/2010 13:52 PM
downthumb
Al Gore
03/24/2010 12:00 PM
When I invented the internet, my first BBS posting explicitly mentioned the possibility of global warming leading to oceanic alligators.
The next sign of the global warming holocaust is universal health care in the US. Once that happens, get out of any major city, as they will all flood up to 2 bajillion feet deep, and the artic ice caps will instantly be turned into that goo from "You can't do that on television"
From there, it's all over. People will turn into pumpkins, Simon.... More
uranidiot
03/24/2010 12:08 PM
Riiggggggggghhhhhhht... all the leading climate scientists are wrong and you and Glenn Beck are right... uhuuuhh... I got some perfect land for you to buy in the arctic really close to true north pole... I am sure you would buy it..
legal61
08/07/2010 16:02 PM
I don't see where he mentions Glenn Beck...watch out your'e liberal roots are showing...you must be under 35..a product of the NEW and improved school system...garbage in garbage out
Douglas Davis
Today 01:45 AM
Your top scientists have already been debunked with their manipulation of evidence just so Al Gore and his ilk (you?) can make a fortune on those carbon credits. You boys were caught with your pants down. :)
oh dear
11/18/2010 12:59 PM
Which scientists have been "debunked"? If you refer to the so called climate gate, it's just really a fancy name and nothing more. There is no scandal whatsoever.
carlos
11/19/2010 04:13 AM
Your an idiot, and you know that is just something that msnbc or that short haired lesbian chick on cnn told you. You know da*n well you never read anything one way or the other. I however have read most of the emails, read the boring 750 page report detailing how the science has been using imaginary calculations that only enforced the original hypothesis instead of attempting to disprove it with actual mathematics. I think you need to do more than just say there is no scandal and explain what.... More
carlos
11/19/2010 04:13 AM
Your an idiot, and you know that is just something that msnbc or that short haired lesbian chick on cnn told you. You know da*n well you never read anything one way or the other. I however have read most of the emails, read the boring 750 page report detailing how the science has been using imaginary calculations that only enforced the original hypothesis instead of attempting to disprove it with actual mathematics. I think you need to do more than just say there is no scandal and explain what.... More
Al Gore
03/24/2010 13:03 PM
I've been looking for property to buy with all this money I got from "An Inconvenient Truth".
Nits
03/24/2010 11:58 AM
I remember seeing this gator on the news, he said if the health care bill passed, he was moving out of the US. Leave him be, he's stuck to his word better than baldwin, Penn, or the rest of those liberals.
DJ
03/24/2010 14:27 PM
How about Rush? thought he was moving to Costa Rica? maybe you could go along, take a bunch of Tea Baggers with you.. would make for a more perfect country I'd think
Duh
03/25/2010 13:46 PM
I think you are right, I saw that on TV also... Yes, they would make the perfect country, without liberals like u DJ that thought, "Oh Osama my bama, is going to save me money and I will no longer have to pay taxes or mortgage payments...." sad sad liberals, look where he has gotten you now...
HE
03/30/2010 00:54 AM
One of the many reasons that Obama was such a popular vote, (aside from people avoiding anything remotely associated with Bush), was because most of us were voting against Palin. Anything and everything looked better than that prospect...
blue dog
03/24/2010 14:42 PM
If all of the conservatives left the country, whose taxes would pay for your enhancement surgery?
Skip
03/24/2010 11:51 AM
What if the whales and alligator join forces and begin attacking humans together? The only thing I can think of more terrifying is if a clown with a machine gun was riding the alligator.
Carter
03/24/2010 11:50 AM
Amazing!
Here you can find stunning alligator photos, videos - take a look! http://mashpedia.com/Alligator
Val
03/24/2010 11:48 AM
"think aquatic researces would take some steps to assure the gator didn't needlessly die"
WHAT? What happen to letting nature be, and take it's course. You might mess up the big evolutionary thing. Maybe he's out there "whaling," we did plenty of that in college. Maybe he's going to cross breed some massive whaligator.
Hmm no wait, you might be right, we shouldn't let him stay out there picking up chicks. Those things would demolish cities. You're right, we should stop evolution.
Stu
03/24/2010 11:35 AM
They did the right thing. Whether the gator was swept to sea or was curious and swam away, that is nature being nature. If he's trying to swim elsewhere, that is amazing. if he's just stupid...that's survival of the fittest.
Clack
03/24/2010 11:27 AM
As unlikely as it may be, I hope he makes it back. You'd think aquatic researces would take some steps to assure the gator didn't needlessly die. Such as maybe contacting someone with a proper boat to bring him back home...
mike
03/24/2010 11:00 AM
"Considering that we were in an inflatable boat 20 miles offshore, we didn’t want to risk having the gator inadvertently puncture the boat," said Foley.
20 miles offshore in an inflatable boat? That's not very smart....
JR
03/25/2010 08:43 AM
They were probably in a RHIB (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat), not your standard inflatable raft. The RHIB would have survived the gator onboard, but the researchers probably weren't equipped, nor trained, to capture a live gator, in the water, and bring it aboard. I've watched enough Animal Planet to know not to F with them!
Guest
03/24/2010 11:04 AM
Wow, I wonder if it was washed out there, or if it was just hte curious type? It's sad that he may still be out there, dead or alive.
Al Dunstan
03/24/2010 10:36 AM
How do we know that whales don't have pets?
Guest
03/25/2010 10:45 AM
We're so egotistical, thinking we're the only species capable of having pets.
acc
03/24/2010 10:28 AM
super bizarre!!!
