Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Tussling with alligators isn’t just for reality TV.

09— Typically, anything that’s under about seven feet in length, we capture from a boat. The real small ones, like the hatchlings, you can grab with your hand; they’re pretty harmless.

The bigger ones take more caution, finesse, and duct tape, says 25-year-old Cord Eversole, a graduate student at A&M-Kingsville.

09— We’re real fortunate to be able to be involved in a study looking at reproduction – in particular – and how drought affects hatching success of the eggs.

He studies the reptiles in his role as a research assistant at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute.

22— A large majority of our data was collected through mark/recapture, and so we tagged roughly 250 alligators at Brazos bend SP, and then captured [them] a year later, so that we could look at how much they had grown in a year’s time, and how the data that we gathered differs from data that was gathered in other parts of their range in the United States.

Thus far, his data reveals something rather unexpected. And we’ll hear about that tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and funds diverse conservation projects throughout Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.