Do you think a Alligator would set a trap?

[Ira Runyan]

This morning I pulled up on the central lake at the Viera Wetlands where the Anhingas were nesting. Several photographers were there amused by this Alligator with a stick laying across it’s mouth. It was almost as if he placed the stick there to entice the birds to try adding it to their nest, allowing the Alligator capture them.

[frank]

Well looks like we can add this gator to the list of animals, other than man, that use tools!!!

[Pat Murphy]

The answer is yes. I saw NatGeo footage of a gator that laid the same trap and ate a snowy egret when the egret flew down to get the stick for his nearby nest.
I will try to find the video link and post it as it was quite extraordinary. If I recall, the photographer/videographer actually filmed the gator 'getting' the stick. Wasn't an accident. Appeared to be very deliberate.

[frank]

Pat, here is a reference to the tool use of alligators and crocodiles.


Tool Use in Crocodylians

[Pat Murphy]

Thanks for the link Frank. I could not find the video I was looking for. The video was of particular interest because it actually showed the gator bringing the branch to a particular location and then waiting until the unsuspecting snowy came down for the branch.