It’s Alligator Mating Season! Watch the kids and critters! 

If you grew up anywhere near the Alabama or Florida coast, you know that the idea of alligators is all fun and games in other parts of the United States, but a very real part of life for locals in the area! In our neck of the woods, alligators are an important part of the Scenic 98 Coastal landscape and they play a valuable role in the ecology of our state’s wetlands. 

Just like you, alligators enjoy the warm weather and hot summer sun and can often be seen basking in the warmth along the causeway, various creek banks, all along the Mobile Tensaw River Delta and on many different golf courses! (With this information in mind, it’s probably best to keep pets on leashes if you visit one of the many coastal parks in the area!)

With the human population continuing to increase and the number of tourists in the Scenic 98 Coastal landscape area increasing as well, the number of interactions between humans and alligators has increased too, and although alligators are naturally shy of humans, they can be aggressive if harassed, provoked, or purposely fed. In addition to these three things, alligators, like many other animals, can become especially aggressive during their mating season which generally lasts from April to May.

For the most part, alligator breeding occurs in open water. After conception, the female will construct a nest of vegetation and mud where she will later lay 30-70 eggs. These nests are well-hidden and well-protected, so if you’re out and about in alligator-prone areas, you should be careful where you choose to walk and swim! 

Alligators are carnivorous, feeding mostly on fish, birds, snakes, turtles and small mammals. Preying largely at night, alligators usually lie and wait for a meal to come by, then capture and drown it. If given an opportunity to capture large prey, they will drag it underwater and lodge it beneath logs or stumps. In classic Alabama fashion, they’ll find something better to do for a little while and come back and finish the meal later once the prey is deceased. 

Although they must return to the surface to consume their meal (they can’t swallow underwater) they are unable to chew their food and must swallow it whole or in large chunks when the time comes. Scary, right?

Unregulated alligator harvest throughout the South in the early 1900s threatened the American Alligator with extinction. Luckily, Alabama played a leading role in the restoration of the species—a national conservation success! 

In 1938, Alabama was the first state to protect alligators. Other states soon followed, and in 1967, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the American Alligator on the Endangered Species List. By 1987, it was removed from the Endangered Species List, but it still remains a federally protected species. 

Today, there is an Alabama alligator hunting season that requires a tag through a lottery system. So far, the largest alligator caught was 15 feet and weighed in at 1,011 pounds, making it the biggest gator ever legally killed in the state of Alabama. 

If you’re interested in getting up close and personal with our alligator friends, you can safely view alligators at many places in our area including Daphne’s Gator Boardwalk on U.S. Highway 98, Village Point Park Preserve in Daphne, the Hugh Branyon Backcountry Trail in Orange Beach or Alligator Alley in Summerdale. 

Additionally, most of the restaurants along the Causeway have decks where you can often see alligators basking in the sun if you look closely enough. Finally, you can book a tour in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta through many of the tour operators in the area if you’re really dying for a closer look!

While they have the potential to be dangerous if not fully understood, alligators are an important part of the Scenic 98 Coastal landscape and they play a valuable role in the ecology of our state’s wetlands and the Alabama coast simply wouldn’t be the same without them!

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