Alligator Hunting Tactics Revealed in 'Crittercam' Study [VIDEO]

By strapping a National Geographic Crittercam onto alligators in Florida, researchers have learned that the iconic swamp creatures are prolific hunters, making a kill about every two hours and that they are most successful on the hunt early in the morning.

Observing the behaviors of alligators is no easy task. Researchers in the field are faced with logistic hurdles and hazards to their own safety when they attempt to study alligators in their natural surroundings.

The Crittercam study, which took place on Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge - a barrier island near Cape Canaveral, Fla. - allowed researchers to observe the daily movements and habits of the American alligator without putting themselves in danger.

Fifteen alligators were captured and fitted with Crittercam by a team led by University of Florida researcher James Nifong, a doctoral candidate studying alligator ecology. Crittercams are durable, waterproof cylinders about as long as a roll of paper towels. Once Nifong and his team were able to capture an alligator, the Crittercam was mounted on the alligators' back, just behind its head, using a sort of backpack that was designed specifically for the animal.

"It was extremely easy to put on, it was cheap, and it didn't take a lot of labor," said Kyler Abernathy, director of research for remote imaging at National Geographic, told the organization's news blog.

Nifong told the NatGeo blog that getting the Crittercams on the alligators must have been akin to an alien abduction for the creatures, who are disoriented by a blinding light, then pulled out of the water, and fitted with the equipment.

"Some of [the alligators] are mean and awful; some of them are like puppy dogs and don't really care what you're doing to them," Nifong said. "But you've always got to respect that the animal can take your arm off or break your leg."

The footage obtained by the Crittercams offers a more complete picture of alligator behavior in the wild. Previous research was based on observing their hunting patterns while in captivity and analysis of stomach contents to determine what the creatures prey upon, according to the National Geographic blog.

The researchers found that alligators most often attempted to catch prey at night, but the study revealed that their rate of success was highest in the early morning hours.

The creature's position in the water - either submerged or afloat - made a difference in prey-capture success, the researchers found, noting a two-fold increase in the success rate when the alligators were submerged while attacking prey. These estimates are the first of their kind for American alligators, and the researchers suggest the data could be useful for researchers studying other crocodilian foraging behaviors.

Nifong and his colleagues' research is available in the open-access journal PLOS One.