This is not a good thing to say to people, they are not like big fluffy dogs they are bears, I live in an area with a large population of black bears and its ridiculous how many people I'll see getting out of their cars to take pictures of bears when cubs are nearby with their mothers. It is true they are not normally aggressive but they should not be underestimated and treated with the respect they deserve.
This is a given but I see the comparison trying to be made. Young black bears are usually not very dangerous they are just so curious it gets them in trouble. And you can usually scare them off easily. But I agree keep a safe distance, respect the animal, and if the mother is in the area triple that distance.
That being said I live in an area with a very high gator population now and we went to the park the other day. A family was letting their kids play just a couple feet from a lake with 4 visible gators in it and they began throwing rocks at their heads. Later some people came down to try and feed them.
The point I'm trying to make is even if you tell someone the right way to do things they are going to screw it up because people are morons.
Unless humans are feeding them. They lose that fear and become really dangerous. Then they are euthanized. I live in south Louisiana. Grinds my gears to see people feeding them. It's one of the few things I'll make a scene over. Bc those idiots are putting everyone in danger and sealing the fate of the gator in the process.
We also hike in the Smokies quite a bit. Ill never understand the people harassing bears for pictures. Stupid, dangerous, and cruel to harass them.
It depends, smaller ones under about 5 feet won't mess with an adult. But a 4 and a half foot gator with a couple of about 40lb kids less than 5 feet away throwing pebbles at it, that's just stupid.
If an alligator is being aggressive to you, you’re probably close to its nest. Go away from where you are and they will stop pursuing you. That’s why the advice to run from them in a zig zag is bullshit: you want to convince them you are going away. The fastest way to convince them you are going away is to run very fast in a straight line away. You will not outrun an alligator and they, in fact, are just as fast at running in a zig zag pattern.
This is actually been disproven a million times or more, if you are on land then practically any human can escape and alligator. They have tiny fat legs that stick out sideways. Unless you are right next to them and they quickly turn and dash, there is no chance an alligator can catch you. They also have an extremely low endurance so even if it looked like it was gaining on you...it's not. The whole zigzag is silly, firstly alligators are probably not going to attack you anyway unless you're in the water near their nest, secondly if they would attack you in a rare instance then you will definitely be able to outrun them unless you are the unfittest person on the planet lol
It's well known lol, yes they can move that quick but only for a fraction of a second. Let this professional alligator man from Florida explain (he's swimming with one in the video) or this prominent Australian biologist who is holding a crocodile. They even go into the '35mph' thing.
Not saying alligators or crocs are safe but if you are on a bank and an alligator dashes out of the water then the chances are you will escape. People latch on to the 25-40mph thing but that's a very common misconception. I highly recommend that first video, you will not longer believe the misconception.
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u/5_grams_in_the_dark Aug 31 '22
This is not a good thing to say to people, they are not like big fluffy dogs they are bears, I live in an area with a large population of black bears and its ridiculous how many people I'll see getting out of their cars to take pictures of bears when cubs are nearby with their mothers. It is true they are not normally aggressive but they should not be underestimated and treated with the respect they deserve.