Animal Diaries Archive

Alligator Conditioning Update

1 April 2005

You may have heard or seen we now offer an Alligator photo opportunity and experience. This is a combined effort from our Roving and Crocodile teams, and we have been trialing for the past 5 weeks some of our American Alligators on a harness and lead. Yes! It does look like we are taking our Alligators for a walk as some people would call it! They have been developing remarkably well and they are used to their new enclosure where we hold the experience. It was a bit of a long road with our Alligators and took a number of gradual steps to get the system right. Initially, they were comfortable with people patting them on the tail while they where being held by a staff member. Now though they have gotten so big (not to mention so strong), we have modified this so they are comfortable to be on the ground and be patted once they are relaxed. They are also getting used to wearing a small light weight harness. We have had many sessions where we slowly introduced them to these other factors.

Now this has enabled us to let you come up close to our juvenile Alligators, pat them on the tail and get heaps of photos (but only if you smile and show all your Alligator teeth too!). We are hoping in the future we will still be able to offer this experience even when they are 10 feet long... can you imagine that! So when you come along to Australia Zoo, come and join us with our American Alligators for a once in a life time reptilian experience!