0:03
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, at 400,000 acres, is one of the largest intact freshwater wetlands on the Earth, a crown jewel of America's proud history of conservation.
0:19
Stunning.
0:19
Yeah, it's so beautiful.
0:22
Ray and I are with the University of Georgia research team that for nearly a decade has called this swamp their workplace.
0:30
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937, before a lot of our parks started forming.
0:37
So this was really groundbreaking stuff that we can save these precious, diverse parts of our country.
0:44
This isn't very, very cool.
0:48
It is opposed to an incredible amount of diversity.
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We have Gopher tortoises, red cockaded woodpeckers and indigo snakes.
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Multiple species of pitcher plants and bladder warts.
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Huge host of insect diversity.
1:02
This entire ecosystem functions like a natural machine that regulates the water security, biodiversity and climate of the entire American Southeast, requesters huge amounts of carbon, millions of tons of carbon.
1:16
It's really important for preventing climate change and the increase in global warming.
1:20
We were to get rid of it and release that.
1:22
It would have profound effects on the ecosystem.
1:27
We're here to study this swamp's apex predator, the American alligator.
1:33
They don't just live in this ecosystem; they help build it.
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Alligators are considered ecosystem engineers, and what that means is they modify the habitat in some way, shape or form that benefits other species in the swamp.
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Unmanned camera traps set by the University of Georgia team have caught this habitat modification in action.
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Those nests they build up are actually important nesting habitats for other species such as turtles and skinks.
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Then there are other species still like bears or raccoons that'll use that as a food source during summer droughts.
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Alligators even carve out lifesaving pools.
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They are so important.
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They will create what we call wallows.
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That wallow can then fill in with rainwater, and it provides really important, important habitat for other organisms.
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As part of this team's ongoing conservation work, our mission today is to collect location and biometric data on the Okefenokee's alligators.
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We started the alligator project in 2017.
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What we're looking at is a lot of movement, where they're going, how they're interacting or overlapping with other animals, and the types of habitats that they're using across the swamp.
2:47
To gather data on an alligator, first we'll have to find one.
2:51
That's the easy part.
2:52
A stable population of as many as 15,000 American alligators inhabit the Okefenokee’s winding black water channels.
3:00
I think there might be one up here by the sun.
3:02
And it's swimming out.
3:03
And he looks a bit smaller.
3:05
Yeah, this is about the size we want right here.
3:07
That's a 30-minute Gator.
3:09
That's a 30-minute Gator.
3:10
They're often seen basking on the banks, Oregon, drifting silently through the tea-colored water.
3:16
Oh, look at this.
3:17
I throw it right out of the truck.
3:19
Catching one now that's another story.
3:21
There we go.
3:22
Got him.
3:23
Unless you're biologist Mark Hope for him, this is just another day at the office.
3:28
Here comes what these guys call a 30-minute Gator, which means it's small and body size, but still important for data.
3:35
And Mark actually just hooked it and is now reeling it in.
3:39
So we're hustling to get ready.
3:41
A 30-minute Gator is 1.
3:43
Mark and Kimberly haven't captured before an animal they can add to their study and process quickly.
3:49
Over his mouth, back behind the jaws.
3:51
Got him All right.
3:51
All right, Abby.
3:54
Now they tend to twist and roll and then just sort of get out.
3:58
Right.
3:58
Yeah.
3:58
We don't want them.
4:00
First thing you're doing, I see is taping that mountain.
4:02
Please.
4:03
Electrical tape because it can come off in waters as opposed to something like duct tape or rubber bands that they can't get off themselves.
4:11
How cool?
4:12
I mean, I mean, literally because the animal itself feels cool.
4:16
Is it because they are cold blooded?
4:18
It is.
4:18
They can't generate any of their own body heat, so they rely on the sunshine.
4:23
Wow.
