When it comes to alligator bites, blame humans

It’s easy to blame the alligator when a human gets bitten, but a new study recently found risky human behavior is likely the cause. “I wondered if crocodilians had an unwarranted reputation for attacks the same way snakes do,” said Mark Teshera, lead author of the study and a biology professor at Centre College in Kentucky. “It was important to create a ranking system for risky human behaviors because it showed that the overwhelming majority of bites stemmed from some level of humans engaging in risky behavior in places where alligators live. Therefore, we should not call these encounters ‘attacks.’” Teshera and his colleagues published a study in Human-Wildlife Interactions, where they documented and categorized human actions directly before an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) encounter. They found that in 96% of recorded instances, humans were either taking risks like purposefully entering alligator-inhabited waters or simply not paying attention. The team said these findings suggest that alligator bites are preventable. “The takeaway lesson from this study is that many bites can be prevented if humans are aware of their surroundings and minimize risky behaviors such as walking small pets near bodies of water or swimming where alligators are known to be present,” said Frank Mazzotti, a professor of wildlife ecology at UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center and an author on the study

Read more at the Berryman Institute.