See why I love Florida :-)

Note: Seriously, while alligators can be as big and as powerful as the largest Nile or Saltwater crocs, they are not aggressive at all and they are predictable.  The truth is that the locals (the real locals) don’t fear them and that in 99% of the cases, when a human is attacked by an alligator it is because of gross human error or outright reckless stupidity.  Right now it is alligator mating season, so they walk around a lot and you can see them far away from their normal grounds.  That is when people here find them in their swimming pools, front porches, blocking a highway or taking a stroll on a golf course.  But, unless you look like a sexy alligator yourself, that is not much of a danger (the same goes for snakes, by the way:  the typical profile of a person getting bitten by a snake is a young white male, with tattoos, whose last words are “hold my beer and watch this”).  In reality the presence of gators is a good sign of a healthy and  clean ecology and the fact that the gator population in FL is increasing is excellent news.  I see gators on almost every hike and sometimes I walk by – carefully – very close to (just a couple of meters away – paths in a swamp can be very narrow).  The truth is that they are rather shy animals who leave you alone unless you bother them.  I also find them very, very beautiful.  Meeting a gator in the wild is like meeting a dinosaur (which an alligator technically is): a wonderful experience.  You can read more about these beautiful animals here: http://discoverykids.com/articles/are-alligators-really-dinosaurs/