This isn't something I read in a book, it's something I've watched for 70 years.
v
Posted on 05/25/2015 8:36:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
"Messing with a gator and he won!" the video's description reads.
A motorist filming while taunting an alligator with his truck learned a valuable lesson when the reptile ripped into the front of the vehicle.
The "Gator vs. Truck" video, posted to YouTube by user keet246, shows the truck approach the alligator, which slowly backs away with bared jaws, and the driver can be heard saying, "Hey, watch my truck," when the gator gives a warning bump to the vehicle's front bumper.
The truck continues to slowly roll toward the gator, which responds by ferociously tearing off a portion of the vehicle's fender.
"Oh, that's nice," the driver says, "Son of a gun."
"Messing with a gator and he won!" the video's description reads.
They eat stupid people, and they are mostly democrats or democrats in training.
They’re also good eatin’ themselves I hear :-)
You couldn’t possibly be more wrong.
An executive moved down to Sanibel Island, joined the Sanibel Conservancy, and was killed by a gator. Not the first time such a thing occurred, either.
Having said that, I must point out that drivers of plastic trucks should not play with large and violence prone reptiles. It is akin to walking at night in “Urban Feral” habitat without a gun - ask for trouble and it appears.
Having been forced to play ‘Gators & Trucks twice, perhaps I might shed a bit of light on the behavior of the ‘pavement gator’ and how it joins the flattened fauna.
A 9’6” gator decided to dash across the road in front of my Range Rover, causing lots of noise, but only two mild bumps as the axles had sufficient travel to ride over the gator but not disturb the vehicle. However, the tie rod was bent somewhat. I once had a tee shirt with “Jeeps are just famous, Land Rovers are legendary” on it. Brer Gator ground truthed it.
Fast forward to last week or so ago, when a 9’3” gator also appeeared in front of my F350 diesel long wheel base truck. This time, the truck was instantly in the other lane of the two lane road and the truck jumped quite a bit when the axles passed over the gator. The Range Rover was vastly superior as a gator flattener.
In both cases, I had to stop, back up, and remove the gator because has a smaller vehicle hit it, the resulting accident could be serious.
In both cases, the gators were not visible at night due to their dark color on an asphalt road and their sudden movement onto teh road.
It is different than hitting a mule deer, in that there is little to no danger of the gator coming through the windshield. On the other hand, I can’t see a deer bouncing an 8,000 pound truck into another lane.
Watch out, they Are out to get you!
;-)
If it’s a GM, that explains it.
The stupid sob deserved to have his truck ripped.
The world is inherently dangerous. More kids are shot than are taken by all wild predators combined. It is so rare that it makes headlines. Six killed in weekend violence in Chicago garners a yawn.
Why? With all due respect; tell me what are they good for but to maim and kill?
They will take your pet or child if given the opportunity.
They are as useless and destructive as fire ants and mosquitos- or do you think they too serve a purpose in the ecological system?
This isn't something I read in a book, it's something I've watched for 70 years.
v
Only the stupid ones.
You defended their right to exist very well.
However, as a parent of a young child in Gulf coast TX, I still am leaning towards a vote for extinction.
“They serve no purpose whatsoever but to kill”
Let me introduce you to fried gator tail. :-)
One could conceiveably argue the same about sharks. But the purpose and need of apex predators are absolutely essential to proper balance within ecosystems.
Alligators create “alligator holes” that retain much needed water for other wildlife during dry seasons.
They help control raccoons and possums that feed on nestlings.
They clean up waterways of carcasses.
They provide a huge economic boon in various ways; meat, hides, tourism.
As with any ecosystem, apex predators are absolutely essential...
Vast swaths of the US have been singularly changed forever by the elimination of critical species no one ever gave a second thought to before they were gone.
American Chestnut was “cradle to grave” wood east of the Mississippi before introduction of an imported blight. The fauna of the east suffered huge drops from losing a tree that provided unfailing nut forage annually and comprised more than 25% of deciduous tree cover on an average.
Oaks nearly followed this route with the infestation of the Gypsy moth.
The mountainous areas of the west lost many of their meadows and high grassy areas with the near extermination of beavers, most of those areas arose from silted in beaver dams.
Mosquitos serve a purpose, a food source to things like Purple Martins and Bats.
Fire ants are non native. They shouldn’t even be in the discussion, aside from the fact that they are corrupting stable ecosystems. Then again, in the long run that’s how adaptive radiations work anyways...
It's now hard to find quail and other ground nesting birds, the fire ants kill the chicks.
A respect for nature is not the exclusive property of liberals. Intelligent men consider the consequences of their acts.
I think I have an explanation as to why your Range Rover went easily over the ‘gator, while the F-350 bounced.
The rover is designed to carry maybe 1000 lbs in relative comfort, nice cushy ride with off-road abilities.
The F-350 is designed to carry 2 1/2+ tons of load. The suspension is, shall we say, “just a tad” stiffer. Had your 350 been loaded, I doubt you would have had such a radical departure from your lane.
In point of engineering fact, the Rangie has several inches of axle travel before contacting the rubber axle stops whereas the F350 has only 1/3 the travel.
The Rangie tires have half the air pressure of the F350 tires, so even though both tires have similar tire depth, the Rangie tire compresses rather more easily.
The F350 gator was hit at about a 50 degree angle, the Rangie gator was a near perpendicular strike.
Summation: Don’t drive lil’ rice burners in gator country.
;-)
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