Kelsey Vlamis
Thu, November 23, 2023
How do the Croc Docs, a team of Florida scientists who wrangle crocodiles and alligators, stay safe? 'Very carefully.'
University of Florida's Croc Docs are a team of biologists who study crocodilians and other reptiles.
Frank Mazzotti, the original Croc Doc, said safety is key and that they virtually never get injured.
Still, he said it's like operating a nuclear power plant: "There's no room for error."
In his more than 40 years of monitoring crocodiles in Florida, Frank Mazzotti has one early memory that especially stands out.
It was a hot and humid July on the coast of Florida in the 1970s, and the air was heavy with mosquitoes. Scientists still hadn't figured out how to use radio transmitters in saltwater, so Mazzotti got a canoe, a good headlamp, and a tent, and camped out with the crocodiles. Instead of relying on a transmitter, he would simply observe the reptiles, watching them come, go, and swim around.
He remembers one early morning, writing in his field book and smearing blood onto the page as a swarm of mosquitos feasted on his hand. He wrote, "The sun is coming up. The mosquitoes are going away. Thank God."
Mazzotti has spent the decades since studying crocodiles, alligators, and many other reptile species in Everglades National Park and beyond. He's a professor at the University of Florida and a member of the Croc Docs — a team of biologists and outreach specialists studying crocodilians, invasive reptiles, and threatened and endangered species in Florida and the Caribbean.
The lab's catchy nickname can actually be traced to a profile of Mazzotti published by Sports Illustrated in the 90s in which the writer dubbed him "The Croc Doc" and "the best friend Florida crocodiles have."
The Croc Docs' work includes monitoring alligators and crocodiles to see how they are responding to Everglades restoration. They also monitor several invasive animal species, a major problem in Florida, like Burmese pythons, Argentine black and white tegus, and Nile monitors.
"What we do is very much like what TV portrays, except it's the real thing," Mazzotti told Business Insider. "We drive in boats, we fly in helicopters, we catch alligators and crocodiles and Burmese pythons. We do all of those things and we do it all safely and scientifically, and collect quality data by which people can make management decisions."
Wildlife technician Elizabeth Sutton on a Crocodile catch.
University of Florida's Croc Docs
One of the Croc Docs' latest successes has been nearly eradicating invasive caimans from south Florida. Mazzotti said they accomplished this by defining an area and doing repeated and persistent surveys to remove and euthanize the caimans. The key, he said, was doing it consistently for as long as they did — about 10 years.
"You don't ride in, shoot 'em up, get rid of 'em, and then leave and it's done," he said, adding that every effort where they've had a lasting impact has been the result of persistence.
So how does a team of scientists regularly wrangle, measure, and tag these reptiles while staying safe?
"Of course, the joke is, we do it very carefully," Mazzotti said.
When catching crocodiles and alligators, there's no room for error
Mazzotti says he has about 15 people working for him across the lab's projects, and that there are very rarely — virtually never — any injuries.
When there is, he says it's more likely for a plant like poisonwood or a sharp rock formation to get you than a crocodile. The last injury that sent someone to the hospital was an allergic reaction to fire ant bites.
"That's the kind of thing that gets us in the field, not the charismatic, dangerous critters that you're really worried about," Mazzotti said.
And that's not because the animals they're handling aren't dangerous — they are. "I hate calling them dangerous because we're assaulting them and they're defending themselves, but I think that captures the point," he said. "They can hurt you."
Argentinian black and white tegu caught by a trap.University of Florida's Croc Docs
Wildlife biologist William Whelpley and wildlife technician Analise Fussell on an alligator catch.University of Florida's Croc Docs
But the lab makes safety a top priority. Before anyone can captain their own boat and go out and capture crocodiles or alligators, they undergo training and have to get signed off on every step of the process, from noosing the animal to securing its mouth.
A key thing Mazzotti emphasized is that the Croc Docs would never pull an animal onto a boat without first securing its mouth, contrary to some of the stunts you may see pulled by TV adventurers.
"Then when the animal comes on board, he can thrash, he can certainly hit you with the tail," he said. "He can't bite you."
Mazzotti said they've nailed down the safety measures so well that he's more afraid while driving to a fieldwork site in his car than when he's out catching the animals. Still, he never forgets that the stakes are high.
"It's like operating a nuclear power plant," he said. "There's just no room for a mistake. You can't say, 'Sorry, let's do it again.'"
Crocodile hatchling.University of Florida's Croc Docs
Finding a way to do the work can be harder than actually doing it
While the idea of capturing a reptile sounds intimidating, it's actually finding them that poses more of a challenge. Many of the species the Croc Docs deal with, like Burmese pythons, are rare and incredibly cryptic, with a very low probability of actually being spotted.
"So how do you find them?" he said. "How do you detect enough of them so that you can remove enough of them so that you can have an impact?"
Of all the work he's done, Mazzotti said one of the most exciting discoveries he's had was when he figured out how crocodiles were surviving in saltwater — by relying on freshwater that accumulated on the surface during the rainy season — because, he said, "by all accounts, they shouldn't."
These days, Mazzotti's time in the field is much more limited. Now what he enjoys most is giving the people who work for him the opportunity to make a living being a biologist. For most people who dream about being a biologist, he said, this work is exactly the kind of thing they dream about.
"All of the work now is done by the people working for me," he said, praising the young, excited biologists on his team who are out doing the work like radio tracking scout snake pythons and trapping tegus.
"They're the ones going out and catching the alligators and crocodiles," he said. "And getting bit by mosquitoes."
One of the Croc Docs' latest successes has been nearly eradicating invasive caimans from south Florida. Mazzotti said they accomplished this by defining an area and doing repeated and persistent surveys to remove and euthanize the caimans. The key, he said, was doing it consistently for as long as they did — about 10 years.
"You don't ride in, shoot 'em up, get rid of 'em, and then leave and it's done," he said, adding that every effort where they've had a lasting impact has been the result of persistence.
So how does a team of scientists regularly wrangle, measure, and tag these reptiles while staying safe?
"Of course, the joke is, we do it very carefully," Mazzotti said.
When catching crocodiles and alligators, there's no room for error
Mazzotti says he has about 15 people working for him across the lab's projects, and that there are very rarely — virtually never — any injuries.
When there is, he says it's more likely for a plant like poisonwood or a sharp rock formation to get you than a crocodile. The last injury that sent someone to the hospital was an allergic reaction to fire ant bites.
"That's the kind of thing that gets us in the field, not the charismatic, dangerous critters that you're really worried about," Mazzotti said.
And that's not because the animals they're handling aren't dangerous — they are. "I hate calling them dangerous because we're assaulting them and they're defending themselves, but I think that captures the point," he said. "They can hurt you."
Argentinian black and white tegu caught by a trap.University of Florida's Croc Docs
Wildlife biologist William Whelpley and wildlife technician Analise Fussell on an alligator catch.University of Florida's Croc Docs
But the lab makes safety a top priority. Before anyone can captain their own boat and go out and capture crocodiles or alligators, they undergo training and have to get signed off on every step of the process, from noosing the animal to securing its mouth.
A key thing Mazzotti emphasized is that the Croc Docs would never pull an animal onto a boat without first securing its mouth, contrary to some of the stunts you may see pulled by TV adventurers.
"Then when the animal comes on board, he can thrash, he can certainly hit you with the tail," he said. "He can't bite you."
Mazzotti said they've nailed down the safety measures so well that he's more afraid while driving to a fieldwork site in his car than when he's out catching the animals. Still, he never forgets that the stakes are high.
"It's like operating a nuclear power plant," he said. "There's just no room for a mistake. You can't say, 'Sorry, let's do it again.'"
Crocodile hatchling.University of Florida's Croc Docs
Finding a way to do the work can be harder than actually doing it
While the idea of capturing a reptile sounds intimidating, it's actually finding them that poses more of a challenge. Many of the species the Croc Docs deal with, like Burmese pythons, are rare and incredibly cryptic, with a very low probability of actually being spotted.
"So how do you find them?" he said. "How do you detect enough of them so that you can remove enough of them so that you can have an impact?"
Of all the work he's done, Mazzotti said one of the most exciting discoveries he's had was when he figured out how crocodiles were surviving in saltwater — by relying on freshwater that accumulated on the surface during the rainy season — because, he said, "by all accounts, they shouldn't."
These days, Mazzotti's time in the field is much more limited. Now what he enjoys most is giving the people who work for him the opportunity to make a living being a biologist. For most people who dream about being a biologist, he said, this work is exactly the kind of thing they dream about.
"All of the work now is done by the people working for me," he said, praising the young, excited biologists on his team who are out doing the work like radio tracking scout snake pythons and trapping tegus.
"They're the ones going out and catching the alligators and crocodiles," he said. "And getting bit by mosquitoes."
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