Playful alligator tug-of-war at Georgia park was actually a struggle over dead animal

What seemed like a playful tug-of-war between two alligators at a Georgia park proved to be a grisly food fight on closer inspection.

The struggle played out on Bird Island in the Okefenokee Swamp Park as the two alligators appeared to be tugging at opposite ends of a thick rope.

That “rope” was actually a beaver, according to the University of Georgia’s Coastal Ecology Lab.

Photos of the struggle were posted March 7 on Facebook, showing one alligator had staked a claim by sitting on the carcass as if it were a soon-to-be-hatched egg.

But then a competitor swam up, grabbed one of the beaver’s appendages and started yanking it.

The lab didn’t say which alligator won the meal, but the beaver lost either way.

Coastal Ecology Lab researchers say they are very familiar with the two gators, which are fitted with tags as part of a satellite tracking study.

The two reptiles even have names: Obadiah Barber and Laura Walker.

“Obadiah, the one we believe to be the dominant male of the park, was the first to be seen with the heavily decomposed beaver and appeared to be guarding it,” the lab wrote on Facebook.

“As the day went on, however, Laura Walker, our largest sat-tagged female, came over and attempted to ‘share’ a meal with Obadiah! We are unsure if Obadiah wanted to participate in this breaking of bread or if Laura even gave him a choice.”

It’s not unusual for alligators in the swamp to spend an extended period of time nibbling and playing with their food, experts say.

Earlier this month, the lab posted photos showing a 10-foot alligator stashed a dead beaver in the swamp and didn’t come back for days. It was eventually photographed taking the beaver in its mouth and swimming away from the camera, the lab noted in a Facebook post.

Okefenokee Swamp Park is a popular tourist attraction adjacent to the 353,981-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to as many as 13,000 alligators, according to SherpaGuides.com.

This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 7:31 AM with the headline "Playful alligator tug-of-war at Georgia park was actually a struggle over dead animal."