Viral video shows massive gator devouring duck in Florida water
Brianna Volz, Digital Journalist
Published: November 30, 2020
From https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/11/30/viral-video-shows-massive-gator-devouring-duck-in-florida-water/

Florida hunters were out looking for ducks last week and instead ran into some competition when they found a massive alligator not far from their boat. A video posted on Facebook by Cass Couey last week has since gone viral and if you’ve seen it, that should come as no surprise. In it, you see the giant reptile creep up on a duck in a swampy body of water, open its mouth and start chomping away as it devours the bird.

The video, which has more than 963,000 views and 3,000 comments, has been shared more than 13,000 times on Facebook. “Alright you’re fed, now get outta here,” the person recording the video says. It may not have been the first time a gator stole one of the hunters’ prey that day, either. In the background, one of the boaters can be heard saying that was “number two of the day.”

An alligator is a whole lot of tail! Full of muscle and strength, the tail makes up half of an alligator’s total length and is designed for efficient swimming. The muscular tail is the thruster this apex predator uses to to secure prey in its watery habitat.


© Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 64432964

The tail is laterally compressed (which means it is taller than it is wider) and is topped with tall crests of epidermal scales. This design means it can efficiently propel itself through water… sometimes quite rapidly! The tail moves in a wide, serpentine, side-to-side swishing and a trail of wake and small whirlpools follows a quickly swimming gator.The frequency of undulations increases the velocity of the alligator.
​
The tail is the primary motor and rudder. According to studies, it is the “main propulsive effector of surface-swimming.” In fact, while swimming, the limbs are primarily folded along the alligator’s side and contribute little to the thrust and steering. (Fish, F. E. (1984). "Kinematics of undulatory swimming in the American alligator" (PDF). Copeia. 1984 (4): 839–43.) ​

Fish and Reptiles top Alligator Prey Items on iNaturalist
In his 1935 book titled The Alligator's Life History, E.A. McIlhenny (of the Tabasco family) wrote, "It is quite safe to say that the food of the alligator at some period of its life, consists of every living thing coming in range of its jaws that flies, walks, swims, or crawls that is small enough for them to kill, and covers a tremendously wide range. After they reach three feet in length and larger, any creature inhabiting the land or water which they can catch and swallow is good food." This is no doubt a true statement!

© Photographer: William Wise

On November 19, 2020, I finished a review of over 19,000 American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) observations uploaded to iNaturalist between April 5, 2009 and November 19, 2020. Observations which depicted an American Alligator eating a prey item were annotated and added to the iNat Alligator Appetites Project. The result revealed a gruesome smorgasbord of dainties enjoyed by this giant reptile.

© Photographer: Scott Buckel | iNat Observation: 2462188

A review of the 107 observations added to the project to date, fish and reptiles nearly tied for the top prey items, with birds and mammals nearly tying in second place. A breakdown is as follows:

• Fish 26.1% (28 observations)
• Reptiles 25.2% (27 observations – 19 turtles, 4 alligators and 3 snakes)
• Birds 14.9% (16 observations - 4 Great Egrets, 2 Gallinules, 1 Red-winged Blackbird, 8 unknown bird species)
• Mammals 14.0% (15 observations – 4 feral pigs, 4 nutria, 3 raccoon, 1 deer, 1 opossum, 2 unknown mammal species)
• Unknown Prey 10.2% (11 observations with unidentifiable prey)
• Human handouts 7.4% (8 observations - raw chicken, marshmallows, fishing lures etc.)
• Other 1.8% (2 observations - 1 crab, 1 frog)

Shining the spotlight from the bow of our john boat, shining specks materialized across the inky black waters within the searching beams of light. Although invisible with the unaided eye, the glowing red eyes revealed dozens upon dozens of alligators in the lake surrounding our boat. By pursuing the glowing eyes, we were there to capture, tag and release as many gators as we could that night. It was on that 1995 trip our ecology professor taught us the details of the tapetum lucidum.

© Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 29933513

Many animals have a reflective membrane in the eyes called the tapetum lucidum, which aids in night vision. The crystals in this incredibly designed membrane take the low light coming in through the eye and reflect it, thereby multiplying the amount of light passing through the retina. Built in night vision!

That same tapetum lucidum is what causes that annoying “red eye” in your indoor flash photographs of family and friends. But while in the Okefenokee, instead of spending post-production time on “red eye reduction," I used it to my advantage. As a gator passed by at dusk, I set my camera for a decent nighttime exposure. And even though it was two far for my flash to fill the scene with light, I used just enough flash to cause intentional “red eye” on the alligator, thus producing an eerie, dragon-like appearance in the photograph.

~ Do you love alligators? Follow the Okefenokee Photography blog blog to learn and see more about the alligators of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. Thanks! William

Their status as an apex predator is probably what makes the American Alligator so fascinating and formidable. Apex predators are those at the top of the food chain. They have few, if any, other natural predators.

© Photographer: William Wise | iNat observation: 49132311

While a big alligator is capable of killing almost any other animal, they may mostly take prey that gives them the least trouble. Since they can’t chew, their prey has to be swallowed whole. But yes, they are famed for the impressive “gator roll” method of tearing apart large prey.

Young alligators consume snails, frogs, small fish and insects. The larger gators will take larger prey if an opportunity presents itself. And though it seems strange, alligators may even eat one of their own kind, as seen below in this iNaturalist observation from Joe Girgente.

© Photographer: Joe Girgente | iNat Observation: 48973711