As a recent college graduate in the field of Environmental Science, I have been very fortunate to be a part of a plethora of internships and volunteer opportunities within the field. My most recent step forward for my career has been receiving an internship position with the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary as a Conservation Intern. I am roughly halfway through my six month term and decided that a blog platform would give me and my co-intern a chance to share our wonderful experiences with the public. For those of you who don't know, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a 13,000 square acre natural area that is managed by the National Audubon Society. This area is home to a wealth of native Florida species and ecosystems. Stepping onto the property is like stepping into a time machine that takes you back for a glimpse of the once pristine natural beauty of Florida.
As Conservation Interns, we have a variety of responsibilities throughout the sanctuary. Working closely with resource management and research, we are able to leave this internship with a new mastery and fresh perspective of the environmental field as a whole. For this particular story, I am going to focus on the Research facet of our position and how I came face to face with one of Earth's most powerful apex predators.
One of our responsibilities includes a standard research practice known as aquatic fauna monitoring. Using 1-m2 throw traps and wire mesh minnow traps, we collect fish and aquatic invertebrates to study their populations during important months related to Wood Stork foraging. In order to use these traps, we have to wade through water ranging from 1 to 3 feet deep, meaning our jobs require us to enter multiple bodies of murky fresh water throughout the property. These small ponds can often be riddled with snakes, insects or other small animals, but nothing can compare to getting in the water with a 10 foot territorial alligator watching your every move.
Within the pond that we have endearingly nicknamed "Duck," lives a large male gator. This guy has virtually a whole pond that is large and fairly deep throughout the dry season all to himself. Right off the bat, he did not look happy as we drove up in the work truck with all of our gear. Our supervisor, Mica, told us that we should be keeping a watchful eye on the sunning gator as we entered its domain. As quick as we got in the water to throw the throw trap, the gator had slipped under the surface of the water. We were only about ten feet from the shore as we saw him slowly bob up and down in the water and each time he surfaced, he would close the gap between us. It was like something out of a JAWS movie whenever he would go back under, as we were unsure of how close he would actually be to use when he came up again.
With all four of us standing completely still in the water, scanning the surface for any sign of the gator, it would have been quite the sight for a 3rd party observing from the road. Finally after what felt like an eternity, the sun hits the water perfectly where I can see the enormous gator's tail slithering through the mud literally four feet from where I am standing. Now we don't bring weapons of any kind to defend ourselves from wildlife, and all I had to defend myself is a seine that I am using as the only shield between me and this enormous predator. As soon as I spot it and yell a few choice words, Mica orders me to back away extremely slowly and to make myself look large and intimidating. Trying to look or feel anywhere close to intimidating with a 10 foot gator staring you down is a very humbling experience.
As we all got back to the shore to assess the situation, the gator made sure to show us that it was the king of the hill by jumping a good 3 or 4 feet out of the water in an act of dominance. It was quite the sight from the shoreline and a behavior that I had never before witnessed. We decided to call it quits after that, as that guy was not going to let us get anywhere near his home again. Unfortunately, we were not able to retrieve the necessary fish sampling data for that pond in the month of February, but we all left with a new appreciation for the power of the American alligator.
Figure 1. The male Gator from Duck displaying his dominance.
(Photo by Allyson L. Webb
Written by: Nick Charles, Conservation Intern 2017
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