Like Logs of Wood

A description of the American Alligator from an 1829 publication describing the wild animals in the zoos of London…

“Alligators are often seen floating on the surface of the water, like logs of wood , and are mistaken for such by various animals, which, by this means, they surprise and draw underneath to devour at leisure. They are said also sometimes to form a hole in the bank of a river, below the surface of the water, and there to wait till the fish that are fatigued by the strong current come into the smooth water to rest themselves, when they immediately seize and devour them. But as they are not able to obtain a regular supply of food, from the fear in which they are held by all animals, and the care by which these in general avoid their haunts, they are able to sustain a privation of it for a great length of time.”

• Huish, Robert. The Wonders of the Animal Kingdom; Exhibiting Delineations of the most distinguished Wild Animals in the Various Menageries of this Country. London, 1829.