Fifteen years ago, the State of Florida allowed the farming of alligators, and this site was the first in Dade County.  When the American alligator faced extinction in the 1960s, and was on the list of endangered species, commercial farming was seen as one method to help preserve this creature and its ancient ancestry.  The alligator is one of the few animals on Earth that have been around for two hundred million years.  When you see one, you’re looking into the ancient past, well before humans appeared on the planet, and into the time of dinosaurs.  An adult alligator weighs in at around eight hundred pounds and may be thirteen feet long, although they have been known to be much larger, although nowhere near the thirty-eight foot size that some monster movies from the 1980s, such as John Sayles’ Alligator would suggest.  The largest alligator on record is an inch under seventeen and a half feet long; although if you check with the Florida Fish and Wildlife conservation Commission, the state record length is established as just under fifteen feet long.

If you go to the Everglades Alligator Farm, you’ll find nearly two thousand alligators, of various sizes, and other wildlife from the Everglades, including crocodiles and caimans, the latter of which may be defined as a crocodilian type of reptile.  If you want to stay closer to town, you may still see a great deal of wildlife, just by going to the beach, where you may find sea lions and manatees and dolphins; although, if they don’t appear, check out the Miami Seaquarium.