Originally published at: Sleeping alligators leave perfect dry outlines on rain-soaked dock - Boing Boing
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By popkin!
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This! “Such perfect dry outlines” would be impossible unless the gators were 2D cutouts. Or perhaps they were incredibly well-trained crocodilians posing for an artist. But did the gators then levitate themselves in order not to mar the artwork?
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Have you ever seen the dry outline of a parked car in the rain? It’s not marred by the car driving away. This doesn’t seem unlikely to me at all.
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Step 1: Buy waterproof deck sealant
Step 2: Paint alligator shadows on local dock
Step 3: Enjoy private lake
(Step 4: Hope real alligators don’t move in)
I wouldn’t say so - alligators are rather flat (and their bodies really hug the ground when they’re not running), and a light rain or mist would leave some pretty sharp outlines. I’ve seen similar effects on my own deck, albeit not with alligators.
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In light of the comment about waterseal. I’m kinda wondering why ‘gators would bother to haul out on a dock at night in the cooling rain when the water is warmer, when during the day the sun on the immediate shoreline is plenty warm, and as cold-blooded animals that’s what they like. I only ever saw them haul out on the grass right next to the canal – it was adequately warm, and escape was faster & easier. And I’m kinda wondering why it’s taken so long for a photo like this to show up on the internet. I rangered one winter at Everglades NP. Just sayin’.
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I have no idea about gator physiology, I’m just saying that the sharp outlines are absolutely plausible. You see them with dogs falling asleep on the porch all the time.
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Of course it’s plausible. Even my truck does it.
It’s just not what gators do, chillaxin overnight in a cooler, less secure place than the water. Trailcams are cheap AF anymore, so show me pics of gators on a dock at night in the rain. Just sayin’, I ain’t buyin’ the premise for now.
I could just buy that this happened with a quick shower on a warm day. They will hang out on a dock if water access is very quick and traffic is non-existent.
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TIL that “Gator Truthers” are a thing. 
Anyway the person who posted the photo (which was clearly taken during the day) never said anything about the gators spending the night on the dock.
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Are there many open positions for Gator Whisperers?
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Exactly – the OP did not claim that. BB did.
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“bes’ let sleeping gators lie”.
a wise old, one-leg florida man said.
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Looks like a clever art prank using hot wax or some kind of sealant. The dark areas in the silhouettes are where the deck is just as wet as the surrounding areas, the stuff has worn off here or just not penetrated well.
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Oh, I recall seeing something like that here a while ago…people were doing really cool stencils on sidewalks and/or maybe roads. The stencils only showed up when it rained. I’d love to see one of those IRL. Or even find the link again 
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That was my first thought. Why haul out on a dock in the rain at night? That’s the last thing a gator needs.
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If they can live “up to 35-50 years,” they can live up to 50 years.
Well, sure, but English doesn’t always have to be read in the strict literal sense and can provide more information when it isn’t. Here a single mathematical maximum isn’t really the point. When people say an animal lives up to some amount they are normally conveying how long it is expected to live if nothing unfortunate happens to it, and that’s a value that will vary. The point then is that an alligator at 35 has potentially lived a full life in a way that one at 15 hasn’t, even if it might still last for a while.
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“The lifespan of the Southeastern American Alligator is precisely as it should be.”
~ paraphrasing Amanda Ziller from Another Roadside Attraction (Tom Robbins, 1977)
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Although Popkin includes night in their story, the original Insta post does not.
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Just as I said, farther down.
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