Aquatic Battle Royale: Gator Captured on Video Chomping a Shark on Hilton Head Island
OutdoorHub Reporters 07.16.18
It’s an aquatic battle royale, and the debate may soon be put to rest over which species is the ultimate predator after an alligator was caught on video gobbling a small shark off the coast of South Carolina.
The Charlotte Observer reported Kristen Poillon, a server at Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks, captured the video, showing a 7-foot gator swimming away with the head of a bonnethead shark hanging out of its jaws.
This may not be the first time an alligator bested a shark, but the gator was seemingly out of place by hanging out in the saltwater of Skull Creek, a part of the Intracoastal Waterway, according to the paper.
However, Brian Silliman, an ecologist from Duke says, “it’s not an outlier or short-term blip, it’s the old norm, the way it used to be before we pushed these species onto their last legs in hard-to-reach refuges. Now, they are returning.”
Poillon says working at the restaurant is “like a wildlife refuge at time.” They often see all kinds of marine wildlife, from dolphins to manta rays gathering at the same spot searching for leftover scraps from the returning fishing boats.
