Battle With a Wounded Alligator, Palm Beach, Florida

Here is one of the terrors of our southern rivers. Alligators are as much dreaded by bathers in the rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico, as are sharks along warm sea beaches. The one here shown has been wounded by a famous hunter. The reptile, even though crippled, has seized the barrel of the rifle. The hunter will doubtless make short work of him. Alligators are of close kin to crocodiles. In fact, you would have some difficulty in telling the two apart. =Alligators live chiefly along the streams of the southeastern United States. There is one kind found also in China. They grow to be almost twenty feet in length, but they do not become full sized until they are about 100 years old. The female lays her eggs in the mud and grass on the banks of a stream, in the late spring. These eggs number from 100 to 200. She watches over them until the warm sun hatches out the little creatures. She then leads them down to the water and gives them there first lesson in swimming. There are not nearly so many of these animals in our southern rivers as there formerly were. This is largely because hunters have killed them. Formerly the animals were shot because of the fear people had of them. Now they are hunted because of their skins and their teeth. Their skins make fine, soft leather. You have doubtless seen bags and belts made of alligator hides. Their teeth are valuable because of the ivory they contain. What other large animals do you know that live in the rivers of warm countries? Look carefully at this view and describe an alligator so that your classmates would recognize one. Keystone ID: 13749 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.