The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-07-27
GAVE BEST ROOM TO ALLIGATOR
DIR. Ditmars Tells of Difficulties in
South Carolina Swamp Hunt.

| for the Bronx Geological Garden and
! then didn't know what to do with
him, finally letting him spend the
| night in the best bed room, was
told yesterday by DR.. Raymond l..
! Ditmars, curator of reptiles, who has
| lust returned from the low grounds
of the Savannah river in South Car
olina, where he went with Keeper
| George Palmer to catch some reptiles
because the European war had cut
off the supplies from the old world
and there was danger of race suicide
in the reptile house.
| DR.. Ditmars brought back $50 rep
tiles, of forty-seven varieties, rang
ing from a small lizard to the big
| alligator. The turtles, lizards,
snakes, and batrachians weighed al
together more than 400 pounds, and
were transported north without mis-
hap.
| The party had some stirring ad
ventures chasing the reptiles through
the cypress swamps, but the capture
| of the big alligator was the real
thrill of the two weeks expedition.
The thrill wasn't over until the ami
NAL was safely in a big pool up in
the Bronx, where it keeps company
with another alligator hatched from
eggs collected fifteen years ago not
far from where the new addition was
caught.
According to Curator Ditmars
there aren't as many alligators down
along the Savannah as there used TO
be.
| Like many other wild creatures
threatened with extinction" said Mr..
Ditmars, "the alligator is fighting
hard for it's life. In it's battle for
existence it has certain advantages
over other animals. Its ability to
recover from gunshot wounds unless
wounded in vital part, and it's habit
of remaining close to sheltering, mud
dy water, constitute important fac
tors in self-preservation.
despite the alleged low mentali-:
ty of reptiles the alligator appears to
have developed fear of man and of
guns equivalent to the sagacity of
the modern bear. Throughout the
greater part of it's former distribu-
ton the big reptile has retreated
from the rivers and from exposure to
hostile observation from boats, and
has taken up it's abode in swamps
| that are remote and little disturbed.
Alligators Go to Swamps.
"On our recent trip we expected
to find the alligator almost extermi-
mated, and were not surprised to
learn that these reptiles are pretty
scarce along the Savannah river and
larger bodies of open water. During
a series of trips into the dense cy-
press swamps, however, the discov-
cry was made that alligators are even
yet fairly numerous. They had re-
treated into these protecting swamps
and multiplied in greater numbers
| than formerly.
"These cypress swamps are of vast
area and almost inaccessible. Their
scenery is weired and impressive, and
their atmosphere, to human beings,
is decidedly unwholesome. They
shelter legions of moccasins and va
rious species of blook-sucking insect
pests, some of which burroW under
the skin and cause dangerous sores.
On entering the swamp one is i'm
mediately impressed by the spectacle
of great trees that swell at the base
like a compressed mass of organ
pipes. Many of these trees are 100
feet high, and some are much high
er, and their foliage is fine and
feathery like that of the northern
larch. In some areas not ray of
sunlight strikes the ground, although
there is a peculiar and really bright
effect of lighting that is due to re-
Elections from the mud-encrusted tree
trunks and cypress knees. The great
river backs into these swamps dur
ing the freshets and stains the
trunks from six to ten feet high to
the color of it's coffee-colored waters.
This dries out to pinkish brown
color, and imparts an effect like a
weird stage setting for an allegorical
opera.
'"The alligators in the swamp were
very shy. In making our way to-
ward the pools, it was necessary to
go with the utmost care, in order to
avoid stepping upon brittle twigs or
rustling the leaves of bushes. Their
sight is so keen that it was neces~.
sary to use bushes and tree trunks
in, this fn |