Five Gator Facts from the Airboat
Spend enough mornings on the water and the alligators start to feel like neighbors. Here are five things guests ask about most.
- They bask to warm up. Alligators are cold-blooded. When you see one stretched out on the bank, it's soaking up heat to get moving.
- They are fast in water. On land they're short-distance sprinters. In the water, that powerful tail makes them quick and nearly silent.
- Those eyes and nostrils are all you'll see. A gator can lie almost completely underwater with just its eyes and nostrils above the surface.
- The bellow is real. In spring, males bellow loudly enough to make the water around them vibrate.
- They shaped the landscape. Gators dig "gator holes" that hold water through the dry season, and fish, turtles and birds depend on them.
Want to see them for yourself? Start with Airboating Everglades to learn how airboat rides work, then pick your day on the water.