Alligator

An alligator attacked 17-year-old Kaleb Langdale on Monday, severing his right arm below the elbow, but it didn't take the Florida teenager's sense of humor.  Friends say he was happy the gator got his right arm -- not his left -- because he uses his left arm to steer his airboat. The alligator attacked the teenager after the youth dove into a gator-filled river to cool off on a sweltering summer day. The teen's arm was found inside the 11-foot reptile when it was hunted down and killed Monday evening, according to Fort Myers television station WBBH.

Two skulls found in the Panama Canal Zone shed new light on the migration history of caimans, southern relatives of the alligator - and also hint that North and South America were much closer together earlier than previously thought. The new study released Monday by the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology finds that some creatures may have made the leap more than 19 million years ago, 10 million years earlier than mammals did and well before Panama finally filled the continental gap. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama around 3 million years ago had profound effects on global climate and on the continents' biodiversity.

A Florida tour boat captain suspected of illegally feeding alligators may already have suffered the ultimate punishment: An alligator bit off his hand. Animal rights activists on Thursday denounced the decision to kill the alligator in a bid to recover the man's hand. They said the captain, who is now under investigation for feeding the animals, is to blame for teaching the fearsome creature that people = food. Wallace Weatherholt, 63, who works for Captain Doug's Everglades Tours, was taking six tourists out on the water Tuesday when he paused to give them a thrill -- and a photo op, according to WBBH of Fort Myers, Fla. He began slapping the water to attract alligators, using marshmallows as bait.

An alligator attacked an 84-year-old Florida woman in the canal behind her home, ripping off one of her arms. The woman, identified as Carol Hough of Leesburg, was pulled from the waters by a neighbor who heard her cries for help, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Hough was airlifted to a hospital where she underwent surgery; she is reportedly in critical condition. Authorities quickly began attempting to locate the alligator that attacked Hough and now believe they've identified the one responsible.

"Travels With Big Al" (Aug. 27): That's what your headline said, and of course I expected an amusing story to go with it. There was nothing amusing in the story about the 1,100-pound alligator appearing in a tank under a trailer that travels from carnival to carnival. People pay 50 cents to look at him. And what do they see? A creature spending its life imprisoned in solitary confinement for no crime other than being an alligator. What do children learn when they see this?

Florida investigators used DNA analysis of alligator blood to arrest a Pompano Beach man on charges of alligator poaching. Mark M. Montgomery Jr., 22, was charged Thursday with illegally killing an American alligator, a felony. Alligator poaching is an old, if not particularly proud, South Florida tradition, but the use of high-tech forensics to catch the poachers is not. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began investigating in October after receiving a complaint from a man who said he saw another man kill an alligator in what appeared to be a flagrantly illegal manner.

State narcotics agents raiding a Hemet pot house made a surprising find amid dozens of plants and seedlings: a 50-pound alligator. The 4-foot-long gator lived inside the home, and the owner had set up a concrete tub with water so the reptile could get wet. "He wasn't aggressive at all.... This guy was just very, very mellow," said Joel Almquist, who was summoned by authorities Monday night to take the alligator to his San Bernardino County animal sanctuary. He said he had to "kind of push the plants to the side" to reach the gator and tape its mouth closed.

A 10-foot alligator resisted the efforts of an impatient driver to move it off the road, taking bites out of a front tire and bumper of the man's 1988 Pontiac Grand Am. Johnny Collins, 18, was driving on Highway 146 over the weekend when he spotted the alligator. He stopped about four feet from the animal and began blowing his car horn. But, instead of crawling away, the alligator bit down on Collins' front tire until it exploded and then bit a chunk out of his plastic bumper, officials said.

A 4-year-old alligator named Mr. Cranky Pants was stolen from a reptile park north of Sydney, but officials at the zoo said the thieves may have underestimated his moodiness and let him go. The animal later was recovered in a nearby creek. Officials at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby said the thieves scaled two barbed-wire fences and climbed into an alligator pit before stealing the 4-foot beast, according to Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. It was the third alligator stolen from the park in two years.

Animal control officers from the city Department of Animal Services went to a North Hollywood residence this week and found an adult 5-foot, 6-inch-long male alligator named Ziggy. The owner, whose name was not released, surrendered the alligator without incident. Animal Services had gone to the residence because of a referral call from the Los Angeles Police Department. "The alligator appears to be in good health, thankfully," said Kathy Davis, assistant general manager of Animal Services.

Talk about adding insult to injury: A Florida tour boat captain whose left hand was eaten by an alligator has been charged with illegally feeding the reptiles. Wallace Weatherholt, 63, now faces a misdemeanor charge of unlawful feeding of an alligator, and is slated to return to court on Aug. 22 to face the charges, according to the Fort Myers News-Press. He faces a fine of up to $500 and possible jail time, the paper reported. The defendant was working for Captain Doug's Everglades Tours last month when he took six tourists out on the water and paused to give them a thrill -- and a photo op. Witnesses say he began slapping the water to attract alligators, using marshmallows and fish as bait.

An alligator attacked 17-year-old Kaleb Langdale on Monday, severing his right arm below the elbow, but it didn't take the Florida teenager's sense of humor.  Friends say he was happy the gator got his right arm -- not his left -- because he uses his left arm to steer his airboat. The alligator attacked the teenager after the youth dove into a gator-filled river to cool off on a sweltering summer day. The teen's arm was found inside the 11-foot reptile when it was hunted down and killed Monday evening, according to Fort Myers television station WBBH.

If you find yourself in the jaws of an alligator, fight like your life depends upon it. Because it does, says a Florida alligator expert. Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife ecology and conservation professor and alligator expert at the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center , offered up this suggestion and other tips for emerging in one piece after an admittedly unlikely encounter with an alligator. We asked Mazzotti for the advice after some unsettling news out of the Sunshine State: Two Florida residents have lost limbs to alligators in the past few weeks.

SAN DIEGO On her first full day in her new home, Xiao was tentative Tuesday, but the sun finally lured her out of the pool onto the sand. Xidi was less adventuresome, preferring the water. The pair of Chinese alligators had just arrived at the San Diego Zoo from the St. Augustine (Fla.) Alligator Farm Zoological Park as part of a long-term strategy to keep the species from going extinct in the wild. The alligators are among the smallest and most endangered members of the crocodilian family.

The 4th of July must be celebrated with a bit of patriotic music, right? But we can do better than the 1812 Overture or John Philip Sousa: Let's watch alligators singing patriotic music! This video comes to us from reptile expert and conservationist Jim Nesci . It features Nesci's gators bellowing along to country artist Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA. " We just had to call Nesci and ask: How did you train the alligators to do that? Turns out, the gators just did it on their own. Here's the back story to the video: "I happened to be down in the basement one day and I had the radio on. I cranked up 'God Bless the USA,' just because I happen to like that song," Nesci told the Los Angeles Times.

On the Louisiana set of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” last summer, Jeff Galpin wasn't worried about vampires baring their fangs at the cast and crew. He had other creatures in mind. “They were filming in the bottoms of some creeks, and we made sure there were no snakes or alligators around to hurt any of the actors or extras,” said the 43-year-old swamp expert. “There were lots of snakes on that set - water moccasins, corn snakes and some king snakes. Most of the time, we just put them in a sack and walk to a different location and let them go. We try to put everything back alive like we found it.” In the Fox horror flick, which was released Friday, Honest Abe takes a violent approach to the bloodthirsty vampires plotting to overthrow the United States.

Reggie the alligator, the renegade reptile who eluded capture for almost two years while living in a Los Angeles city park, may well have lost his freedom, but he has now gained a girlfriend. Staff members at the Los Angeles Zoo call her Cajun Kate, and unless there's a mystery-lady gator at Lake Machado in Harbor City, she's probably Reggie's first ever female companion. Asked Sunday how Reggie was getting along with Cajun Kate, zoo spokesman Jason Jacobs said, "Good, very good."

Officials said an alligator bit off part of a golfer's arm as the man leaned over to pick up a ball at a private course. The man, who is in his 70s, was retrieving a ball from a pond when the 10-foot alligator bit him at Ocean Creek Golf Course in Myrtle Beach. The gator pulled the golfer into the pond and ripped off his arm in the struggle. The golfer's partners were able to free him. Wildlife workers killed the alligator and retrieved the arm in hopes that it might be reattached.

A Florida tour boat captain suspected of illegally feeding alligators may already have suffered the ultimate punishment: An alligator bit off his hand. Animal rights activists on Thursday denounced the decision to kill the alligator in a bid to recover the man's hand. They said the captain, who is now under investigation for feeding the animals, is to blame for teaching the fearsome creature that people = food. Wallace Weatherholt, 63, who works for Captain Doug's Everglades Tours, was taking six tourists out on the water Tuesday when he paused to give them a thrill -- and a photo op, according to WBBH of Fort Myers, Fla. He began slapping the water to attract alligators, using marshmallows as bait.

Swamps aren't very sexy. Dank places filled with slithering creatures don't scream tourism, unless you're from Louisiana. So how would one fare in New York City? "Swamps in Louisiana have tremendous adventure-travel opportunities," says Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne. On Wednesday, he flew to un-gator-like Manhattan to oversee the installation of a 12,100-cubic-foot re-creation of a Louisiana swamp built inside the city's bustling Chelsea Market. The exhibit is free and might be a good way to sample the bayou before going to visit.