Belated minor rant on Lowry Park Zoo (Updated)

During a trip to Lowry Park Zoo earlier this year, I enjoyed a sightseeing tour of the Hillsborough River.

It was a blast, and was generally fun and informative.

However, one botched factoid has gently gnawed at me ever since.

The tour guide mentioned the American crocodile and its supposedly aggressive nature compared to the American alligator.

But that is just wrong. Growing up in Florida, I made it my business to learn something about Florida wildlife. That included the American crocodile, and every bit of reading I remember on the subject called the creature shy, reclusive, and generally non-aggressive toward humans.

Michael Cherkiss, a wildlife biologist with the University of Florida, says the crocs were listed as endangered in 1975.

"In the past two years, due to their recovery of several hundred animals now to approximately 1,500 to 2,000, they've been down-listed to threatened," he said.

Their recovery is partly because they've found a prime habitat and breeding area at the Turkey Point nuclear plant in the state's south - a spot with plenty of water and few humans.

Mr Cherkiss says Florida is the only place where crocodiles and alligators live in the same location.

But he says the American crocodile isn't as dangerous as its Australian cousin.

"The American crocodile doesn't get anywhere near as big as the salties. They are much smaller. Sort of a large crocodile is probably 14, 15 feet and that is a rare occurrence," he said.

"American crocodiles, also are called the sweetheart of the crocodiles. They are very shy and timid and they are not very aggressive towards people at all.

(ABC Australia)

A Massachusetts news source failed to even find a documented attack on a human by an American crocodile:

American crocodiles have never made a documented attack on a human in the U.S. Here, it's domestic pets that more often become crocodile food.
(Boston.com)

More often than never, that is.


Update:

Apparently some attacks have been documented in Mexico and elsewhere. It remains that the information given during the tour was incorrect. And my statement about the Boston.com story was incorrect as well, since the story stipulated "in the U.S."