Don't underestimate alligators!

I say that based on new video that's relevant to my argument last week — that Americans are lucky to live with alligators, not crocodiles. As the Daily Mail notes, a sharp-eyed observer recorded an alligator climbing over a fence at Naval Air Station Jacksonville last weekend. The fence is quite high and the alligator succeeded in its acrobatic effort. Hence our key lesson for the day: Those living near to alligator habitats should not trust fences to keep out alligators.

If alligators want in, apparently they're getting in. This Jacksonville alligator isn't alone. From South Carolina, we have video of another alligator scaling a household fence!

Also, alligators' acrobatics show how they are also very capable hunters. That's a good thing.

With 1.3 million alligators estimated to live in Florida, that healthy population controls the healthy population of those animals which alligators eat: turtles, birds, and a range of mammals. This fosters sustainable habitats.

Fishing in alligator-infested waters is still far safer than fishing in saltwater crocodile infested waters. Unlike the "salties" (see the video at the end of this article), alligators do not appear to have killed any humans by launching themselves out of the water and pulling said humans out of boats.

One final point. Our human fascination with alligators and crocodiles isn't anything new. In his book Pax Romana, Adrian Goldsworthy records how "Ptolemaic Egypt developed something close to a formal tour of its sights for visiting Romans, including a trip to the Nile and the opportunity to see the sacred crocodiles being fed."

Just don't lean out the boat if you ever find yourself in certain waters of the Indo-Pacific ...