I don't remember a cop killing a 12' in Fort Worth (ish), an 11 footer was poached on Lake Worth in 2012.

A fairly large one did have to be put down on the east side of FW, but it was 8-9' long.

I'm curious, younger gators die from the the colder temps. Some might be a bit more hardy and survive. What will happen if breeding populations of more cold resistant gators might occur?

Could we actually be lucky that some people try to take gators as pets then throw them out into the waters once they start to grow and that strangely helps prevent populations from establishing in colder areas?

Or is all that just a bunch of uneducated newbie thoughts and questions?

I would think that being a cold blooded reptile would preclude becoming genetically resistant to cold. But then, I took chemistry and physics at A&M, no biology.

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I would think that being a cold blooded reptile would preclude becoming genetically resistant to cold. But then, I took chemistry and physics at A&M, no biology.

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My thought was from tilapia species spreading further than thought capable and different tilapia types survive different water temps. Mozambique are the only legal tilapia in texas if I remember correctly. However, many people have cases of some fish being hardy and surviving winter cold water on rare occasions with warm winters

Evolution doesn't occur overnight (see threads with "rattlesnakes don't rattle because of hogs.")

Also, pets released into the wild, such as this particular gator, usually don't live very long, especially in marginal/fringe habitat.

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Evolution doesn't occur overnight (see threads with "rattlesnakes don't rattle because of hogs).

Also, pets released into the wild, such as this particular gator, usually don't live very long, especially in marginal/fringe habitat.

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Yea yea yea but that's what I'm saying, you get a population of gators more resistant to cold at a breeding a population level and maybe it becomes a problem. Are we strangely thankful for people releasing gators that don't have much of a cold resistance?

General catch is the average water temperature has to get up to I believe 70 degrees for their reproductive cycle kicks in. Their survival in colder water is simply a matter of them being large enough to handle to cold. It likely has something to do with having a large enough surface area to get marginally warmed up by the sun.

As long as Anacondas don't make it up here.

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I don't remember a cop killing a 12' in Fort Worth (ish), an 11 footer was poached on Lake Worth in 2012.

A fairly large one did have to be put down on the east side of FW, but it was 8-9' long.

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I think this is what I am remembering...not sure if the cop actually shot the gator or not.

http://texags.com/forums/34/topics/1431814

Ahh, the one killed along Trinity Blvd. I guess it was a bit longer than I remembered. Yeah, it was hit by a car and had to be put down. I can't remember if a cop or game warden shot it. Typically they would wait and let the GW do it....way less paperwork.


I do miss the occassional alligator call.