The photographs of this deer-eating alligator were taken from the air by Terri Jenkins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service District Fire Management Officer. She was preparing to ignite a prescribed fire at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles south of Savannah, Georgia, on March 4, 2004. The photo has
“One advantage of fire work is you get to see that 12-14 footers are common from Santee National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina to Coastal South Carolina to Georgia’s coast,” said Jenkins. “It looks like the alligator population is doing extremely well.”
The gator being held up by the excavator is actually only 13 feet 1 inch and the picture was taken in Texas. This image is another example of how positioning can exaggerate the apparent size of objects in photographs. the gator is in the foreground of the photogragh, with its head towards the camera, while the game warden strolls in the background, making the reptile, particularly its head, proportionally larger than it really is.

