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Expert: Alligators spotted in Lake Hickory unlikely to mate
‘The big one would be mature enough to breed, but the smaller one would not.’
By Sarah Newell Williamson | Hickory Daily Record Published: May 24, 2009

HICKORY - Hickory is unlikely to become an alligator haven despite two sightings in Lake Hickory in the past two weeks, said nature expert Bruce Beerbower.

Even if the two animals were male and female, it is unlikely they would mate, said Beerbower, the director of visitor services and naturalist at Catawba Science Center.

"From what I could see from the first pictures, that one was about 5 feet long," he said. "Although there were no photos of the second one, it was much smaller."

Beerbower said these two alligators are likely not the right size to breed.

"For alligators to breed, they have to be close to the same size," he said. "The big one would be mature enough to breed, but the smaller one would not."

He said alligators usually are 8 or 9 years old before they breed, which the two spotted in Lake Hickory likely are not.

The first sighting was on a log off the shore of a person's home in Granite Falls, in Lake Hickory, on May 8. This was the alligator that appeared larger.

The second sighting happened May 14. A Hickory man spotted an alligator in the water near Lake Hickory Campground. This person didn't get any photos, but said the alligator looked aquarium size — much smaller than the one spotted a week earlier.

"Someone probably had them as a pet and dumped them in the lake because they're not native to this area," Beerbower said. "American alligators are the only kind native to North Carolina, and they're only found in the coastal plains in Wilmington or the river swamps along the coast."

He said he could recall three alligators and three caimans found in middle and western North Carolina since 1995, the first of which was found in Newland.

"The average person on the street cannot legally buy alligators, but there are always ways some people will find to buy illegal animals," Beerbower said.

He said he couldn't clearly tell from the photo published in the paper if the larger animal spotted in Lake Hickory was an alligator or a caiman, which can grow to be about 7 feet long.

Beerbower said American alligators have a rounded snout with upper teeth that hang out over a closed mouth. A caiman, which is frequently called a common caiman or a spectacled caiman, has a snout pointed more like a "V," and will have a ridge between its eyes — where the "spectacles" would go, Beerbower said, which is where the name comes from. A crocodile has upper and lower teeth that hang out over the jaw when the mouth is closed.
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