So focused on fighting off the alligators and mosquitos out to eat them that they long ago forgot their mission was to create new markets with new products that could carry them out of the low-growth swamp.

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When someone started in on his experience chasing albino alligators through the New York sewers, I decided it was time to stagger off to bed.

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For instance, the San Diego Zoo received two female Chinese alligators from a zoological park in Florida in early July and wants to start breeding the critically endangered species if they can get a male Chinese alligator next year.

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The idea was to do a film about the disappearing wetlands, and that first section opens happily with underwater shots of alligators and "Iko Iko" on the music track.

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The Schreck family -- Scott, Carrie and their three young boys -- spent a night in the swampy wilderness Thursday in an ecosystem home to alligators, snakes and mosquitoes.

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By comparison, the state is home to about 1.3 million alligators.

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Other large tropical reptiles, such American crocodiles, tend not to avoid the cold, whereas temperate species, such as American alligators, do, and will retreat to warmer refuges when temperatures fall.

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In April of 2000, a man named Gemini Wink was hiking through the swamps near Tampa, Florida, looking to take pictures of alligators.

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Endangered species from bald eagles to alligators in Florida's waterways also are clawing their way back from the edge of extinction.

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Earlier, the Seville, Ohio, family had enjoyed a fun time fishing for bass and taking photos of alligators.

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