Nuisance tourist?

[Robert Sobczak]

You always hear the term "nuisance gator,"

But wouldn't a better description
be extremely "well trained?"

http://www.gohydrology.org/2012/02/nuisance-tourists.html

[Kim Gass]

Now Robert, I am a tourist. I tour for three days to get to the Everglades. But I have sense not to feed things that might harm you as in alligators or in my territory, bears.

Would it be a better term to use "ecologically challenged"? I bet there are some in Miami who have no idea of the consequences of feeding wild animals.

[Robert Sobczak]

Well said, and I agree.  By tourist I mean it in the metaphorical sense.  A tourist could be from Miami or Minnesota if there outlook on nature is the same.

[Kim Gass]

It has occurred to me that could be an interesting graph here. One is alligator intelligence over time. Call it x.

The y value could be average human intelligence about the natural world. How to quantify is the real mindboggler.

Is there a z value like shape of the canoe? I got "challenged" by a male one March day. We both got scared poopless. The other thousand gators I have paddled  by could have cared less.

Your point about not feeding is very good though. Even food scraps dumped over the side of a chickee invite unwanted guests. I would like to ferret for my dropped fork under there without risk of a gator chomp. Bring the food you need and never never too much.

[Robert Sobczak]

I'm always looking for another interesting graph to make .. or think about ... especially when it involves the social sciences.  Most often they are the hardest to develop because the data, the concrete stuff, is so hard to come by (as opposed to hydrologic numbers.)  I agree, too, about attracting animals.  Gulls at the beach are the perfect example.