01-03-2009, 03:54 AM
An American alligator has been found on the Australian south coast, leaving experts at a loss to explain how it arrived there.
Last Updated: 1:09PM GMT 31 Dec 2008
Wildlife officials in Australia are investigating how the alligator was found wandering around a campsite in Pambula, New South Wales.
Police assumed they had a crocodile, a native of Australia's tropical north, when holiday-goers caught the reptile in a volleyball net on Monday.
But later they issued a statement that the 5ft reptile was, in fact, an alligator.
The animal's origins are a mystery as no owners are registered locally either for crocodiles or alligators.
Crocodiles are found in large numbers in the tropical north of Australia, while the American alligator is found in the south-east United States.
Alligators tend to live in freshwater and have wide U-shaped snouts, where as crocodiles are usually found in saltwater. They have longer, pointy snouts.
Crocodiles also tend to show both upper and lower teeth when their mouths are shut.
The two are only distant evolutionary relatives.
Snake handler Hans Rasker, who was part of a group of people attempting to subdue the alligator, told ABC news in Australia: "When he had run out of fish and there were about a dozen people about, the [alligator] thought 'I'm not being fed here any more, so I'm going to go'.
"He decided he was heading for the bush so we grabbed a volleyball net and tried to put that on him there until the authorities turned up.
"That didn't work [so we] ended up just lying on top of him and holding him down and we gaffer-taped his mouth and tied him up."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlif...perts.html
Last Updated: 1:09PM GMT 31 Dec 2008
Wildlife officials in Australia are investigating how the alligator was found wandering around a campsite in Pambula, New South Wales.
Police assumed they had a crocodile, a native of Australia's tropical north, when holiday-goers caught the reptile in a volleyball net on Monday.
But later they issued a statement that the 5ft reptile was, in fact, an alligator.
The animal's origins are a mystery as no owners are registered locally either for crocodiles or alligators.
Crocodiles are found in large numbers in the tropical north of Australia, while the American alligator is found in the south-east United States.
Alligators tend to live in freshwater and have wide U-shaped snouts, where as crocodiles are usually found in saltwater. They have longer, pointy snouts.
Crocodiles also tend to show both upper and lower teeth when their mouths are shut.
The two are only distant evolutionary relatives.
Snake handler Hans Rasker, who was part of a group of people attempting to subdue the alligator, told ABC news in Australia: "When he had run out of fish and there were about a dozen people about, the [alligator] thought 'I'm not being fed here any more, so I'm going to go'.
"He decided he was heading for the bush so we grabbed a volleyball net and tried to put that on him there until the authorities turned up.
"That didn't work [so we] ended up just lying on top of him and holding him down and we gaffer-taped his mouth and tied him up."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlif...perts.html