All alligators want from us is to be left alone -- seems fair to me

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Flocks of Hawks came here Sunday to see eagles and vultures.

The birds were just a bonus to the many Orange Bowl-bound Iowa Hawkeyes fans who used Everglades tour companies on Sunday. They came for the alligators.

But for those who went out on guided air boat tours on the “River of Grass,” seeing a gator emerge from the 4-feet-deep water was highly unlikely.

“You probably have a better chance of seeing a penguin today,” admitted Sawgrass Recreation Park boat Captain Paul Walker.

“We'll have about 1,000 people (taking one of the privately funded company's half-hour tours) today, Walker said. “Of course, it's the coldest day of the year so we'll see the least alligators.”

Gazette photojournalist Liz Martin and I saw no alligators on our half-hour ride that Walker piloted. But we did see a fish eagle, and some turkey vultures. And for 30 minutes, we felt almost as cold as the people back in Iowa.

OK, I exaggerate. But when Walker had his boat zipping into a stiff wind on a 55-degree morning, you felt like half the water in the Everglades was coming from your own eyes.

The alligators normally show themselves in the familiar spots Walker and his fellow captains bring people. But reptiles don't like cold any more than two-legged mammals. They tend to stay close to the bottom of the water where it's warmer when it's not a typically comfortable day in their subtropic ecosystem.

That would have been more of a disappointment to the tourists at Sawgrass Recreation Park had the park not featured an area to see alligators of different sizes and get an informational talk on the reptiles from “Gator Tim” Schwartzman.

“It's a very, very misunderstood animal,” Schwartzman said. “Hopefully, we'll change some peoples' minds. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't like them.”

That's because we think alligators look at us and think dinner. When in fact, they want to be left alone.

“They're like bears in the north,” Schwartzman said. “Attacks on humans are very rare, and mainly because of human encroachment of their territory. They only react to humans by force if necessary.”

Schwartzman introduced us to Cannibal, an alligator he said was pushing 50 years old. At 13 feet long, he tips the scales (no pun intended) at 1,000 pounds.

We were allowed to hold a 2-year-old named Smiley, who was surprisingly soft. When Smiley started

 to try to wriggle free from my grasp, I was more than a little glad Schwartzman had taped shut the youngster's mouth.

Overall, though, I shed my fear of alligators. As long as their mouths are taped, or like Cannibal, they're on the other side of a chain-link fence.

Big snakes, however, remained very low on my list of favorites from the animal kingdom after our visit.

Walker said about 30,000 Burmese pythons are believed to be in Everglades waters, with as many as a half-million possibly here in five years if they aren't thwarted.

Some either were released into the wild by their owners or escaped. When they reproduce the females can lay as many as 100 eggs at a time. Oh boy.

“Burmese pythons can get 25 feet long,” Walker said. “They're able to kill a 7-foot alligator and eat it.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has licensed snake experts to stalk the pythons.

Let's hope the results aren't the other way around, for the sake of the snake-stalkers and those poor 7-foot gators.