Kiawah Island’s Alligators:
Preliminary Research Results
J
By Jack Kotz
ust a year ago Professor Louis J. Guillette Jr. of the Medical University of
Photo by Russ Lowes
South Carolina (MUSC) was here to give a lecture on his life’s work on
alligator biology. Guillette was a marvelous speaker who could awaken
an interest in almost any subject in his audience, but this lecture was
special. Kiawah is home to an estimated 450 alligators. In spite of the fact that we
see them often, the Town biologist Jim Jordan acknowledged how little we know
about them. Professor Guillette seemed just the person to help us learn how they fit
into the ecology of our island! Thus was born one of the most interesting and useful
research projects yet undertaken on Kiawah Island.
Photo by Sue Corcoran
Professor Louis Guillette Jr. and his
son Matthew. Professor Guillette died
unexpectedly in August 2015, and
Matthew is now carrying on the fieldwork
on alligator biology on Kiawah and at
several other sites in South Carolina.
Matt and Lou Guillette capture an alligator as the film crew captures them.
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Naturally Kiawah