Archie Carr: A Naturalist in Florida
Paynes Prairie	Alligators
	ARCHIE: When we first moved to the shores of Wewa Pond, our old alligator was present, and is probably the only inhabitant that has lived on from then till now. Until recently I have been very intolerant of people's intolerance of alligators on their property. I still hold that belief, to some extent. But now our own alligator has grown big, and I can understand the problem a little better. I am attached to our alligator, deeply so, but she has made me see that a three hundred pound predator in the front yard is simply bound to be a mixed blessing at best. MARJORIE: An alligator is a great big carnivore. And if you're going to grow up near it and have dogs and children near it, you need to get proper respect. TOM:We never did lose a dog, amazingly enough, or a child. We swam with a gator in this lake for many years MARJORIE: But she knew every move we made. We enjoyed her very much. Still do...still do. TOM: He loved the alligator; he loved to see it , watch it - just sunning - or eating an armadillo that had been shot around the property. Or nesting. MARJORIE: Archie went down to take a picture. He had his Hasselblad. He was going to take a picture of the alligator guarding her nest. And she came up on the nest. And Archie took a step closer to it. And she came a little closer. But he wanted her to open her mouth. So he took another step . Well, she opened her mouth and she also rushed him. And Archie turned and rushed to the other end of the island and she was right behind him. The only thing he could do was to climb up this bird snag which was very sharp to sit on. Well, she taught him a lesson. (laughs)
	This is the Cuban tree frog, my study animal. As a doctoral student I was curious to know how is it that this West Indian Tree frog was so successful. Look at that mouth. That thing could swallow anything, including native tree frogs. She can carry up to about 25, 000 eggs. If you look at her too you can that see she's pretty cryptically colored, she blends in with things . Depending on her mood she can get darker or lighter.
	She might also look a little slimy as does my hand because this frog gives off a very viscous substance that's incredibly irritating. So when you grow big, you eat anything, can lay your eggs anytime of year, its really kind of hard not to do well. I think she's sitting very contentedly on my hand because we're friends.
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