Nice to know as always that critters like these survive in the unlikeliest of places.

Norman-Uk:
It’s real but it DOES look kinda plastic, doesn’t it?

However, an especially protracted hard freeze can do them in. There was an account from the 19th century where numerous alligators were found dead on the Yazoo River of northern Mississippi because of an especially hard and prolonged freeze one year.

The one in this photo is an American alligator, not a caiman. Caimans have pointed ocular lobes (almost look like horns above the eyes) But why it is up in the Appalachians is a good question. I’d say someone probably had transported it there as a juvenile. Migration seems unlikely, but they can travel great distances by water and by land.

Down in the bootheel of Missouri some gators showed up in a small reservoir. Historically, they never existed in the state. It was suspected that someone had introduced them to try and control the muskrats. They seemed to thrive a few years then eventually disappeared. Missouri is just a tad too far north and too cold for an established population.

Norman – as far as looking “plastic” crocodilians can sit motionless for hours at a stretch. They can surface, submerge and ease into the water so slowly they scarcely make a ripple if at all. Or they can explode with lightening speed that can still catch the experienced observer by surprise.

Fossils show that in the Pleistocene period, before the first Ice Age, alligators were found as far north as Nebraska.

Well- first off you need to learn some simple geography. North Carolina is a large state. Hickory NC is about 250 miles northwest of Wilmington. This puts it right in the hills of the Appalachion Mountains. A gator in a lake in the mountains of NC is VERY different than a gator in a pond on the southeast coast of the state.

What would you say if a gator was found in a lake in Eastern Tennesee? It’s closer to Hickory than Wilmington.

First, we must take into account that the local wildlife folks understand this is an unusual animal for this area, and that, against predictions, it or a kin survived the winter in this mountainous area.

Also, please see this posting from May 14, 2006: “Why Cryptozoology Is Interested In Alligator Sightings.”

Alligators in NC aren’t unusual in the slightest. My Uncle lived in a condo in Wilmington that had a 4-5 foot gator in the pond. This was 15 years ago.