The Alligator’s Allure: How Florida Embraced a Giant Man-Eating Predator

• In Event: Beyond Fear and Loathing: New Perspectives on Apex Predators

Abstract

The American alligator is a giant, fearsome reptile that can grow to almost fifteen feet long and weigh up to a thousand pounds. Found in freshwater ecosystems throughout the southeastern United States, this large apex predator will eat almost anything, including pets, livestock, and in rare cases, humans. Despite its reputation as a man-eater, however, the alligator has generally been welcomed in Florida, which contains more of the species’ wetland habitat than any other state. Although once endangered, today Florida is home to an estimated 1.3 million alligators, together with almost 22 million human residents and more than 130,000 million visitors annually.

The story of the American alligator thus stands in stark contrast to that of most other large predators in North America. Scholars have long been documenting the deep fear and loathing that Americans have directed toward top-level carnivores—especially the wolf, coyote, bear, and cougar—and the brutal extermination campaigns they launched to rid these and other species they considered vermin from the land. Although the alligator has also provoked great fear and anxiety, it has escaped the relentless eradication efforts many other large North American predators faced. This paper examines the multiplicity of factors that have made the alligator an outlier among apex predators, including the low actual rate of attacks on humans, the state’s aggressive alligator management program, and the multiplicity of ways Americans have come to value this intriguing reptile over time. Indeed, along with white sand beaches, palm trees, and oranges, the alligator has become one of Florida’s most recognizable icons and an important source of the state’s identity.

Author

• Mark V. Barrow, Virginia Tech