See Ya Later, Little Gator

Watching the little alligator gar slink through the fake foliage of its tank at the National Geographic Museum reminded me of another little gator - this one back at my own place of employment.  In addition to the large crocodilians housed in an outdoor enclosure, we housed a juvenile American alligator, about two and a half feet long.  No big, fancy pool with a grassy lawn and basking spots and shade trees for him (or her... at any rate, it was too small for me to feel comfortable sexing it).  Instead, we had a tub with a half log in the back of an Education Animal holding area.

Small American alligators are among the most popular of Education animal ambassadors in the zoo and aquarium world.  Their appeal is obvious - what's cooler than getting to meet the miniature form a giant predator eye to eye, maybe even getting the chance to touch its scaly hide?  Between the commercial alligator farms and the constant confiscations of illegally (and ill-advisedly) kept pets, they are in abundant supply.  Almost every facility that I've worked at has had one of the little guys. 

Lately, I've been having second thoughts about little education gators.  The more I've worked with crocodiles and alligators over the years, the more I've come to recognize them as social, intelligent creatures, deserving of better care than might be provided with a tub in a back holding area.  Which isn't to say that an education animal can't have an enriched, fulfilling existence in an adequate off-display enclosure.  It's just that I'm not sure a lot of people are viewing these little guys in that way.

There's also the question of what happens next with them.  I've heard from zoo managers that these little alligators, when kept alone, don't learn how to socialize properly, which can be problematic when they grow and are moved in with other alligators.  They just don't know how to behave around others of their kind.  The best solution for this (for zoos that are determined to have education gators) would be opt to house a pair or trio, so there will be companions to grow up with.  This would also allow alligators to be rotated on-and-off use so they wouldn't become stressed from too much handling.  It would require a much larger enclosure and that much more care, but surely that's not too much to ask for from an animal that gives so much value to our zoos and their missions.

For a long time, St. Augustine Alligator Farm had an on-going alligator exchange.  They would provide young alligators to AZA zoos and aquariums for exhibition and education programs, with the understanding that, upon reaching adult size, they would be willing to take the animals back for a retirement home in their massive gator exhibit.  This program has since been discontinued, in part as AZA and St. Augustine try to push more zoos from moving away from the very common American alligator and shift resources and facility space to more endangered species, such as the Cuban crocodile and the tomistoma.

Along that route, some zoos have started using the Chinese alligator as an educational ambassador, which - besides being endangered - as the advantage of staying a lot smaller than the American alligator.  I've used Chinese gators as education animals before and found them to work just as well, with just as compelling of a story.

Education alligators were some of the first zoo animals that I ever worked with, and I've had a lot of very found memories of them from over the years.  Moving forward, I'm not sure that I would say that I'm done with the concept, as long as they are being utilized in a responsible, respectful, and ethical manner (i.e., not letting kids sit on them, as I've seen some tourist traps allow).  I just want to make sure that we're providing these awesome little - soon to be big - animals with the care that they deserve.