Too close for comfort
by Santiago Cuellar
Reptiles
Keywords: alligator, gator, teeth, mouth, reptile, everglades
Alligators are usually non-agressive animals. But this 10 foot gator was not having a good day. While in Shark Valley, Florida, I came up on this sleeping gator and I was about 10 feet away and down low to the ground when he opened his eyes only to find me too close for comfort. He hissed and opened his mouth wide, I quickly took the picture and turned to move away, but I triped, fell down and made this gator very angry. They usually will run into the water, but instead, he actually turned to me (fresh meat laying on the ground) and took a couple of steps towards me before turning into the water. I am glad to say I know invested in a bigger zoom lenses.
Image Format: Digital Capture - 3 to 5MPImage Crop: Full FrameDigital Enhancement: NoneModel Release: NAProperty Release: NACaptive: NA