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Documentary, River Monsters S01E03- Alligator Gar
#RiverMonsters #Documentary
#RiverMonsters #Documentary
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00In the deep south, a monster is accused of a series of violent attacks.
00:07A creature as deadly as a shark and as big as a gator is blamed.
00:15Wherever we have alligator gar, there are myths of monsters.
00:21The state authorities said it should be electrocuted.
00:25Now, I'm on a mission to get face to face with this river monster.
00:30You better be strapped in.
00:32To find out if this animal really is guilty of the crimes it's blamed for.
00:55I'm Jeremy Wade, a fisherman and a biologist with a passion for freshwater giants.
01:08I've traveled the globe putting my life on the line to find truly monster sized fish.
01:14It's become something of an obsession for me to get into really remote parts of the world and to find the animals that nobody else can.
01:22But the creatures I hunt and find are not just monsters in size, but in attitude too.
01:31And now I'm on the trail of one that has a reputation for attacking humans.
01:36I've heard some alarming stories of this creature over many years, but I've never seen one in the flesh.
01:42It's the alligator gar, a truly prehistoric monster.
01:47There are five species of gar that inhabit the United States.
01:51All gar are ancient fish.
01:53They've existed on earth for over a hundred million years.
01:56Their survival is in part because of their unique defense system.
02:01Scales made from a super hard enamel called ganoin.
02:05This armor plating has seen them survive predatory dinosaurs.
02:10The alligator gar, however, is in a class apart.
02:17Named for the profile of its snout, it's the largest of all gar, reaching some ten feet in length and weighing over 365 pounds.
02:28It has a further defining characteristic, a double row of dagger pointed teeth along the length of the upper jaw.
02:37But these attributes have not been enough to defend it against a more modern threat, man.
02:45Before 1930, their range extended beyond American borders.
02:50But the impact of people means that now they're not found above the boot heel of Missouri and Tennessee.
02:59Alligator gar stand accused of savage attacks on humans.
03:04I've trawled the archives and all the attacks I've come across are concentrated in the deep south.
03:12They certainly have the teeth for it.
03:15But I've been unable to find any hard evidence that these fish are the culprits.
03:21If I'm going to find an alligator gar guilty of these crimes, I'm definitely looking for a very big fish.
03:30The experts I've spoken to suggest Texas is the place where the biggest specimens are still to be found.
03:37I'm heading directly to the Trinity River, a 710 mile long waterway.
03:44Here, people have caught gator gar longer than I am tall.
03:51To help me, I'm recruiting Baba Bedri.
03:56He's a specialist in finding alligator gar that weigh over a hundred pounds.
04:01Sometimes for food, but normally for bow fishermen after trophies.
04:11But I'm not planning to catch a fish for a trophy.
04:14I want to find out if this creature has committed the crimes it's accused of.
04:19Baba is taking me straight to a section of the Trinity that he believes holds the best hope of finding large gar.
04:30What we're doing now is we're just drifting with the current and we've just come to a bend in the river that doubles round.
04:46Baba's just said this is the hole, this is a known haunt.
04:50And I can imagine the current has actually dug out a bit of a hole in the bottom here.
04:57And apparently they are very aware, more aware than a lot of fish, of sort of knocking and noises in the boat.
05:04So we're literally just drifting with the current and just looking to see if we can see them come up and breach.
05:14Gar have a swim bladder that works like a lung.
05:17An adaptation that helps them survive in oxygen poor backwaters and creeks.
05:23However, this brings them up to the surface to breathe.
05:26It's a chink in their armor, giving away their presence.
05:32Oh, yes. So they're just coming up and gulping air and going down.
05:37Yeah, that fish there is mad. He knows we're here.
05:40Yeah, exactly.
05:41When he splashes hard like that, I guess it's soon to spook us off.
05:47Yeah, I've come across exactly the same thing in the Amazon.
05:49There's a fish there that comes up and gulps air.
05:51And if they do it gently, they don't know you're there.
05:54If they're like that, you think, oh, it's a good fish, but it's actually getting up and going down as quickly as it can.
05:59So it's the same behavior.
06:02The rivers here have murky water.
06:05With visibility limited, Gar use a band of highly sensitive vibration receptors along their body called the lateral line.
06:13This enables them to locate prey and predators.
06:19To avoid detection, we decide to abandon the boat and fish from the shore.
06:24I'm still experimenting with baits.
06:26And I'm going to start off using a treble hook.
06:29Standard issue for big predatory fish.
06:32Although the water's muddy, I've seen several come and break the surface.
06:37So I know they're here.
06:38I know they're a fish of 100 pounds plus, you know, within 25 yard radius of my bait.
06:46You know, that's quite a feeling.
06:53It's one of those moments in fishing where things can go from being very quiet, like they are at the moment,
06:59to, you know, suddenly you can have an animal over 100 pounds on the end of your line, trying to pull you in the water.
07:14But if there is a monster Gator Gar in these Texan waters, it's not giving itself up easily.
07:27If I'm to find one that fits the crimes it's accused of, it has to be at least as big as me.
07:35A real river monster.
07:48140 miles from the ocean, I'm on a mission to get face to face with a monster of the deep south.
07:54The alligator Gar, a shark sized river dweller.
07:58At Lake Livingstone on the Trinity River in Texas, I seek out legendary fisherman Bobby Fly for some clues on how to find a giant specimen.
08:11He caught one seven feet long that put him in the Hall of Fame.
08:16And he believes there are still big gar around on the Trinity.
08:20You ain't got to move your boat 100 yards one way or the other to catch good gar fish right there.
08:27Now I have seen one 14 foot long down there, dog fish.
08:33Oh, really?
08:34Mm-hmm.
08:35And I was tied up on top of a willow tree with a 14 foot flat bottom.
08:38And this bad boy come right up beside me and just surfaced right there.
08:43And I've seen the front of my boat and the back of my boat and I've seen fish all the way.
08:47So I immediately pulled up the slack gun down my rope that went on to the house.
08:52I didn't hang around.
08:55But this sighting was in 1987 and his record catch was landed in 1991.
09:05Other anglers have pulled out large specimens, but no fish over eight and a half feet in length has been caught in the last decade.
09:14The big question is, are there still any gar left large enough to commit the attacks they're accused of?
09:22And if so, how will I catch one?
09:24That's interesting. It's a big fierce...
09:26Bobby Fly caught his giant using a bait of a carp-like fish called a buffalo.
09:31The buffalo.
09:32And how did you prepare the buffalo to...?
09:34Okay, you take the buffalo and you want a nice one about, oh, five, ten pounds.
09:39Mm-hmm.
09:40Then you take a mallet and beat him up.
09:42Like a hammer.
09:43Yeah.
09:44A mallet.
09:45A little baseball bat is what we use.
09:47Yeah.
09:48And you just whip on him real good.
09:50Yeah.
09:51And then you take your claws, your fingernails, and just get his tail and you just strip the thins off.
09:58Yeah.
09:59And then you cut him up in little bitty squares, like quarter-inch squares.
10:02Right.
10:03Okay.
10:04The reason why you beat on the fish with a mallet is to get that blood all into the meat.
10:10Mm-hmm.
10:11See?
10:12Because that's what they're smelling when out there.
10:13Yeah.
10:14They want that blood.
10:15Just put it on that hook and throw it out there.
10:17That's all very interesting.
10:18All I've got to do now is go out and try and get something similar size.
10:22Something close to that will make me happy, I think.
10:24Well, you will.
10:25You will.
10:26There's some big ones out there.
10:27Yeah.
10:28You go down there from where I told you to go.
10:29You'll be all right.
10:30Bobby Fly's optimism about the size of these fish is ringing in my ears.
10:37But I'm still unsure whether this fish is as aggressive as its reputation suggests.
10:42I've heard many stories of these fish attacking humans.
10:46But one particular incident sticks in my mind.
10:49A really gruesome report from the neighboring state, Louisiana.
10:53I'm trying to catch me.
11:00On a warm, humid spring day, a nine-year-old schoolgirl, Elizabeth Granger,
11:06and her 13-year-old brother, George, are playing on the shoreline of the lake.
11:11Come on.
11:15It's not fair.
11:18You always will.
11:20Elizabeth, only a few feet away from her brother, dangles her feet in the water.
11:29Always win.
11:30Always win.
11:31Always win.
11:32Always win.
11:33Suddenly, something grabs hold of her leg.
11:39Dr. Robert B. Payne has worked as a physician for almost 40 years.
11:54But he has never seen wounds like this.
12:00What have we here?
12:01My goodness.
12:02The press report George's claim that what attacked his sister was seven feet long.
12:19Really?
12:20And that he believed it to be a garfish.
12:29In his medical report, Dr. Payne describes the wounds as being like coarse needles inserted
12:35in a board.
12:41A wave of paranoia soon follows, and the alligator gar is held accountable for many similar attacks.
12:56Although this was a well-documented event, the identity of the attacker rested entirely
13:02on the testimony of a 13-year-old boy.
13:07But was an alligator gar really the culprit?
13:10Or, with its threatening prehistoric appearance, was it just an obvious scapegoat?
13:17I turned to Mark Spitzer, an expert on the gar.
13:21You've got an inch thick or so.
13:23Is that the official gar history as far as you've asked?
13:28Well, this is my gar history.
13:30I've been intensely researching gar for the last few years.
13:34All over the country, wherever we have alligator gar, there are myths of monsters.
13:41These fish were the fishes of nightmares.
13:44So, I mean, one rumor that was created was that these fish eat twice their weight in a day,
13:51and stuff like that, you know, and that they attack human beings.
13:55So, I mean, were there lots of stories of that kind of nature?
13:59There was an article that appeared in the New Orleans newspaper called
14:03Alligator Gar More Dangerous Than So-Called Man-Eater Shark.
14:08And here's a copy of the article.
14:11It was written by an anonymous journalist who basically said,
14:15if you should emerge from swimming or taking a bath,
14:18and you find out that you have a limb missing, do not blame the shark.
14:22It is probably the alligator gar that did it.
14:27Where does the fact end and the imagination and sort of fantasy start?
14:34The gar can certainly grow to a large size.
14:38And it has a ferocious armory of teeth.
14:41But does this prove an inclination to attack humans?
14:45Is it a natural-born killer?
14:47I need to find hard evidence.
14:52Using the advice of fishing legend Bobby Fly, I'm going for a bait of buffalo fish.
14:59This, I hope, will let me get my hands on the alleged culprit.
15:04But I'm learning on the job.
15:07My best hope is to try and get into the mind of the gar.
15:11I've only been here a very short time.
15:14And because there are people who fish for these fish,
15:19you know, it's a big, ugly, stupid-looking fish.
15:22So let's use fairly basic tackle.
15:24And, you know, normally it's a thick bit of wire, some heavy line, and a big treble hook.
15:28I think they're actually quite sensitive.
15:31You know, you can still be sensitive even if you've got a sort of a bodey mouth.
15:34And I think thick wire, they actually, they could feel that when they're chomping on it.
15:39And I think a treble hook as well.
15:40You know, there's a nice, soft, succulent bit of fish.
15:42And there's something else in there.
15:43You know, what's that?
15:44And I think they could spit it out.
15:46So I'm using a single hook.
15:48And the thing about that, it can just fold down nicely.
15:51It's not sticking out like, you know, three points on it.
15:57Both Mark and I cast lines into the river.
16:00But it's the bait on the single hook that gets picked up.
16:03Something's got it.
16:04It's moving.
16:05It's moving.
16:06It's moving right to left.
16:07Is it?
16:08Yeah, it is.
16:11I need to let the line run very freely to avoid the fish realizing the bait's attached to anything.
16:17It's a bit of a battle of nerves, this.
16:18Something's taken off.
16:19It's on the end.
16:20It's stopped.
16:21It's off again.
16:22It's off again.
16:23Yeah.
16:24It's good.
16:25Good sign.
16:26It's going to be very soon.
16:27Yeah.
16:28I think it's off.
16:29Oh, no, no, no.
16:30It's coming toward us.
16:31That's a small, what is it?
16:32It's a turtle or a small fish.
16:33It's coming out.
16:34It's coming out.
16:35It's coming out.
16:36Yeah.
16:37Yeah.
16:38Yeah.
16:39Yeah.
16:40Yeah.
16:41Yeah.
16:42Yeah.
16:43Yeah.
16:44Yeah.
16:45Yeah.
16:46Yeah.
16:47Yeah.
16:48Yeah.
16:49Yeah.
16:50Oh, it's a little guy.
16:51It's a needle nose.
16:52Look at that greedy thing.
16:55That greedy thing.
16:57Yeah.
16:58This gator gar has eyes bigger than its stomach.
17:01But at three feet long is a chance for me to test whether these fish have an aggressive
17:05aggressive character. Right, they grow 18 inches their first year so it's probably
17:11you know between a year and two. That tongue's interesting isn't it? Yeah.
17:17There's those two rows of teeth on the top. These teeth are three-eighths of an
17:24inch long, a quarter of the length of those of a fully grown gator gar.
17:35Oh my god, you got bit, huh? I was just in there trying to get the hook out. Score one for the fish.
17:40That's a very young alligator gar with a big appetite. I'm just gonna lob him back in the
17:45water. My idea that the gar is just a misunderstood big ugly stupid fish has
17:54caught me out. Maybe it does deserve its reputation after all. This fish is
18:00actually still a lot of energy left. I brought it in on very heavy gear so it's
18:04actually got a lot of energy left. Normally they'd be pretty side out. I think
18:07I'm just gonna slide him over the side well ahead of our next fishing spot. So
18:11here we go. Back you go. Even a fish this small has managed to draw blood. Good
18:17battle score. It did, didn't it? But you can see the sort of the cut on it. This is a
18:21setback to my theory that the gator gar may have been unfairly blamed for these
18:25violent attacks. The consequences if this fish was scaled up to a monstrous eight to
18:32ten feet are beginning to hit home. What do you think about a gar that size with teeth
18:37to match and a body like a torpedo, it really is a terrifying prospect. You've just got a
18:44living weapon of destruction.
18:50What is the heaviest alligator gar ever caught on official record? Is it A 145 pounds? B 365 pounds? Or C 428 pounds?
19:08What is the heaviest alligator gar ever caught on official record? The answer is B. A 365 pound alligator gar was caught in Texas in 1991.
19:35In the rivers of the deep south lives a creature reported to have the immense size and the attitude of a man-eating shark.
19:50I'm on a mission to find out the truth behind this ugly reputation. I know from first-hand experience just how sharp those teeth are. Oh my God, you got bit, huh? That was just a gentle brush.
19:56With its teeth. Okay, it wasn't particularly deep but they certainly drew blood.
20:11Back in the water. Yet this alligator gar is only three feet long.
20:16George Granger reported that what bit his sister was seven feet long.
20:22And other reports state that these fish can reach double that length.
20:27Now I have seen one 14 foot long down there.
20:30Its reputation for vicious attacks on humans is beginning to appear justified.
20:39It's no wonder that people took fright when you consider a beast of those dimensions with a couple of hundred razor-sharp teeth.
20:46But I still don't have hard proof. I believe the jury is still out.
20:54In past times, for many of those living in the deep south, this was a fish guilty as charged.
21:00One that should be eradicated from all rivers and lakes.
21:04So they took it really seriously then, the whole business of let's clear these things out of the water.
21:09They're, you know, they're an abomination. They're not fit to sort of share the planet with us.
21:13They obviously look guilty. Therefore, they must be responsible for these occasional incidents where someone gets their leg bitten or whatever.
21:22But, but, but where's the evidence?
21:25Basically, they look scary and so that added to people just wanting to run them out of town.
21:30And, and so they were run out of town.
21:33I mean, I, I, I heard of, you know, just sort of heaps of them.
21:36Oh, yeah.
21:37Yeah. Bulldozer piles, lots of people shooting, just, just a very despised, hated fish.
21:46In 1933, the Texas Game Fish Commission began a campaign of extermination.
21:53They built an electric gar destroyer rigged with a 200 volt electric net to kill the fish.
22:00Over the next three decades, millions of gar were destroyed in an effort to be rid of them forever.
22:08Perhaps the prejudice that the alligator gar has always suffered explains the extreme fishing methods used to catch them today.
22:23Unless they get the protection they need to reach full size, giant alligator gar may well be wiped out.
22:40Now, in Texas, for the first time, the Parks and Wildlife authorities are trying to work out what the cost has been to the gar population.
22:59On the lower trinity, we're en route to set what are called jug lines, baited hooks attached to floats.
23:09Our plan is to catch as many gator gar as possible, and then monitor them with electronic tags.
23:16Dr. Dave Buckmeyer leads this project.
23:21Dave, what's the state of knowledge on the gar at the moment?
23:24Alligator gar, along with other gars and buffalo and things, have always been considered kind of rough fish, which no one really cared much about.
23:33Is that the same as trash fish?
23:35Trash fish would be another common name for it.
23:37And so there was actually even efforts to try and eradicate alligator gar and other gars from populations
23:42because they were believed to have eaten desirable fish, if you will, largemouth bass and things that we have, catfish.
23:49They have recently been listed as vulnerable by the American Fishery Society,
23:53and that's because in most states they're definitely on the decline.
23:57So we have some real reasons for concerns about the species.
24:01Shall I chuck this out?
24:02Yeah, go ahead. Throw that one up there.
24:05And it unwinds itself, is it?
24:07Yeah. As the bait sinks, they'll unwind.
24:10And then that lies on the bottom.
24:13Right. And that lies on the bottom.
24:14And when the gar come up to feed, they'll kind of comb the bottom, pick up the bait,
24:18and usually run with it for 15, 20 minutes.
24:22And after we're confident they've swallowed it, we'll go pick up the bait.
24:26Yeah, spinning nicely there.
24:28Oh, it looks like it's coming right.
24:30Not much research has yet been done, but it's thought few gator gar reach their maximum lifespan of 60 years.
24:36As we move on to set more lines, there's a call from the opposite bank of the river.
24:44We've actually just put out some jug lines and nets, but some local guys here, they've got a trot line out,
24:53a line going across the river with hooks at intervals, and they've just pulled a small gar out on that.
24:59So the first fish actually now to be, is going to be tagged, and then all the measurements taken.
25:0678 is the tag number.
25:08The tag will provide the biologists with data about which areas of the Trinity River the gar are using,
25:14so they can formulate a plan to protect the species.
25:17Sounds like a visit to the dentist, but actually quite appropriate because the scales of these things are very,
25:23made out of something called ganoin, which is actually very similar to tooth enamel.
25:27So, hence the need for a drill just to penetrate that body armor.
25:31Engineered like medieval chain mail, the gar's suit of armor is built from thick, diamond-shaped scales,
25:38providing a formidable defense against attack.
25:41They're so hard that Native Americans use them for arrowheads.
25:44And the fish, I can't even feel it tensing, it's just lying here, very, very calmly.
25:51Wet towel over it, over the eyes as well.
25:54Quite important, it's just coming out of a very muddy river where it can't see much into the bright light.
25:59Unlike my last experience, this young gar displays no aggressive behavior.
26:04If you'll read that number, the top number.
26:07Okay, this is 44433.
26:10We're going to just let that one go.
26:11Okay.
26:12The gar is released unharmed.
26:14Ooh!
26:15I guess he wanted to go.
26:16He wanted to go.
26:17The electronic tag will now send a signal to a series of receivers to monitor the fish's movements.
26:27After several hours, the scientists' own search is finally successful.
26:31Nothing on the jug lines, but one caught in a net, a two-foot gar.
26:37There are no signs of any monster-sized fish.
26:42It looks like the population of these fish is in a worse state than I thought.
26:45Maybe in the old days, when these fish were literally everywhere, crude techniques would work.
26:50But now, I think I'm going to have to develop an approach that is more precise and targeted.
26:55I'm determined to get face-to-face with the giant gar and find out the truth behind its monstrous reputation.
27:04I'm here to establish whether the alligator gar is the monster that reports suggest.
27:21But I'm finding the task far harder than I expected.
27:26There we go.
27:27So little is known about this fish, it's been accused of all kinds of crimes.
27:31But the research into what it actually does, where it does it, and how it does it, is virtually non-existent.
27:38I'm heading for the aquarium in Athens, Texas, where curator Wayne Heaton keeps some gator gar.
27:47I need to know more about the business end of these fish, just what exactly their teeth are capable of.
27:54I think as far as a lot of people are concerned, this is very close to a shark, and it's in fresh water, it's in a river near you.
28:00Right.
28:01You know, sort of don't go in the water.
28:03Unfortunately with us, especially if it's something we don't know much about, we always assume the worst.
28:07And so you see a big six, seven, eight-foot gar hit the surface with these monstrous teeth.
28:13The first thing that comes to your mind is, well, I'm not getting in the water.
28:17Well, you know, these teeth, they're not like our teeth.
28:21They're not kind of blunt, you know, we kind of have a few sharp ones for tearing or whatnot.
28:26These things are made to, whenever they grab something, it's theirs.
28:30And so these teeth are very, very sharp.
28:32I wonder if, you know, perhaps they're a bit simple-minded and they're just sort of programmed, even if it's dead, they're still programmed to sort of like keep it clamped for a little while before properly swallowing it.
28:45When they grab it, they kind of want to make sure it's something that they're going to be able to swallow.
28:49So you might see them hold it for a minute to make sure that that's what they want.
28:53And once they decide to eat it, you'll start seeing them moving it in their mouth and then to the point where they'll actually swallow it.
28:59But then once it's there, even though it's a big mouth, that process seems to be quite a slow process.
29:06Right. They will do it at their leisure.
29:08They're in no hurry because once they have that in their mouth, they know it's not going nowhere.
29:11So if it's something that's got quite a bit of fight, they'll just keep that mouth closed until it wears itself out to where they can swallow it.
29:19You're not going to have something in the water to try to find the gar.
29:22You're basically going to let that gar come to you.
29:24So, and he's going to grab it.
29:26And so when he grabs it, you might not want to try to set the hook right when he grabs it because he might be still deciding whether he wants it or not.
29:32But once he gets to where he wants to swallow it and then you set the hook, you better be strapped in.
29:45With the knowledge that I need a cautious, patient approach, I hire another fishing guide, Mark Malfour, to take me to a fresh section of the Trinity River.
29:53My plan to hold off setting the hook until I'm sure the gator gar has properly taken the bait.
30:04That was definitely a fish moving off.
30:09Not a damn thing.
30:13This is actually very, very frustrating fishing.
30:17I mean, something definitely had that in its mouth because it moved it several yards.
30:20But when I tighten down, there's nothing there.
30:23And really, you know, just talking to people who fish here, I mean, there's not much that anybody's told me that's any use.
30:28I mean, very few people fish for these.
30:30Bobby Fly caught his by accident.
30:32And the fishing that is done on rod and line is pretty basic.
30:35You know, it does work.
30:37It's a fairly low percentage success rate.
30:39You chuck out a lump of dead fish like this and you wait and you let it take it for a long time.
30:44And most times you tighten down, there's nothing on the end.
30:45But, you know, sometimes there is and it hasn't really got any more sophisticated than that.
30:50But that was another half hour with nothing to show at the end of it.
30:56But focused on my target, I fish on towards dusk.
31:00Normally, Gaara caught before the water begins to cool down.
31:10Well, before the sun sets.
31:12That's gone up. It's gone up again.
31:15Most guides give up fishing by mid-afternoon.
31:18Set it, set it, set it, set it.
31:23There we go.
31:27That's it.
31:29Please, Johnny. Feel something?
31:30Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:32That's a fish.
31:33Ain't no tell.
31:35Get on! Yes!
31:37Yes!
31:41It's gone under the boat, under the boat, under the boat, under the boat.
31:43Keep the tip away.
31:44That soaked me. I'm here.
31:46Four feet above the water and I got off splashing.
31:49Yes!
31:50Finally, it seems I am going to get face to face with my river monster.
31:54Woo!
32:03That's a fish.
32:05Ain't no tell.
32:07Oh, yes!
32:09Yes!
32:10I'm hooked into my target, a river monster with a fearsome reputation.
32:18The alligator, Gaara.
32:20It's pulling down. It's pulling down.
32:21Look at that. Look at that rod.
32:23Let's get him up. Let's get him up.
32:25After fishing for 12 hours straight, just as dusk turns to night, I set my eyes on the giant fish.
32:31Do you want me to see it?
32:32The most dangerous part of gar fishing is bringing the fish aboard the boat.
32:41Coming over.
32:51Oh, there we go!
32:52That's what we wanted?
32:53That's exactly what we wanted.
32:54That's a prophesized fish.
32:58As the gar comes aboard, it thrashes its snout from side to side like a scythe.
33:04I haven't forgotten that three-footer that got me.
33:08This fish is almost seven feet long.
33:11Single hook.
33:13Single hook.
33:14Look.
33:15We've done it.
33:16We've done it.
33:17Fantastic, Mark.
33:18That was really...
33:19Ooh.
33:21Okay.
33:22We got the gar panel?
33:23Yes.
33:24All right.
33:25So this will go in here.
33:29Okay.
33:31The teeth of this scar are another half inch longer than those that scarred me earlier.
33:35No.
33:38Thanks.
33:39123.
33:40123 pounds.
33:42Good, good.
33:43Good, good.
33:44Yes.
33:46Finally getting my hands on the fish and seeing it face to face, I can begin to weigh up the evidence.
33:53Actually laying hands on this historic beast.
33:57This is fantastic.
33:58I mean, this is the creature that I came here to see.
34:01I mean, you hear people say, like Mark, that, you know, these things, they won't just devour a bait.
34:07They will just...
34:08They're so fiddly.
34:09They will just sit and chew it and maybe spit it out.
34:11You know, I've had fish take 100 yards of line even.
34:1615, 20 minutes, you tighten down and there's just nothing on the end.
34:20Gar don't bite pieces off their prey.
34:23They only eat what they can swallow whole.
34:26This puts humans off the menu.
34:28For all this fierce reputation, you know, they do seem to be, you know, they certainly look the part, but I'm not sure that they actually act up to the part.
34:39Oh, what a thing.
34:41What an animal.
34:43This gator gar seems too gentle natured to cause deliberate harm.
34:48Interesting that here's the bait.
34:49It's not, you know, it hasn't taken it down.
34:50The bait is...
34:51Oh, here we go.
34:52There we go.
34:53There we go.
34:54Yeah.
34:55Yeah, don't worry.
34:56We're going back in the water in a moment.
34:57Yeah, maybe we'll throw that after as a little consolation.
34:59But that was interesting.
35:00When it just did that, the whole upper jaw sort of expanded, didn't it?
35:03You know, when it actually came up and...
35:04You can actually see the gaps where there's actually flesh in between and the head's allowed to expand.
35:10Right through these two little veins.
35:11Right through here and up through here.
35:13You see that separation from the jaw?
35:14See how that actually gives?
35:15There's flesh in between these areas as well as up and through here.
35:18See that?
35:19Yeah.
35:20This is solid, solid.
35:21Right here's flesh that attaches the joints so it allows the head to flex and move.
35:25The skin that joins these armored plates allows the gar's jaw to expand.
35:32But not so much that it could consume a person or even a human limb.
35:37It's very tempting just to keep it out and admire it.
35:41You know, about to think, you know, what is important.
35:43Although this animal is an air breather, I think it is very much time to get it back in.
35:47So I think one last look and back in the water.
35:52Oh!
35:53See how it's doing?
35:54Yeah.
35:55Okay, you got it?
35:56Okay.
35:57Very hard to hold.
35:58And you've got the heavier end.
35:59I've got the heavy end.
36:00I've got the bony end.
36:04This female gator gar measures six feet eight inches.
36:08She's longer than I am tall.
36:11Then, once again, the gar draws blood.
36:14She has a 14 inch long mouth full of some 500 teeth.
36:20That's not actually the teeth of the animal.
36:22Those, that is the back of a scale or some scales.
36:26Slicing across.
36:27Yeah, as the fish, my hand, with the weight of the fish on my forearm there, the fish just slid back.
36:32And I'm sliding back.
36:33Sliding that way is fine.
36:35Sliding this way, the points, the real points of these triangular scales stuck in.
36:40The Native Americans used to use them as arrowheads.
36:42And I can sort of see why now.
36:43A big old scrape down my arm there from the scales.
36:46Anyway, should we get to...
36:47I believe I've seen enough to clear the gar's name.
36:51You've got that, yeah?
36:53It's time to return the specimen to the wild and reflect on other possible suspects.
36:59Okay.
37:00A little higher.
37:01Up to that.
37:02Okay.
37:03Not our baby.
37:04There it goes.
37:05There it goes.
37:06Excellent.
37:07Wow.
37:08Okay.
37:09Has the clue been there all along?
37:14In the very name the alligator gar shares with another predator.
37:19If you put legs on that, it would just be like an alligator.
37:24It would just be like an alligator.
37:25It would just...
37:26It would just...
37:27It would just be one.
37:28Yeah.
37:29Is the real culprit the animal it could so easily be mistaken for?
37:35The American alligator.
37:52After years of one-sided testimony, it's time for the jury to review the verdict on the guilt of the gator gar.
38:02There must be a more logical culprit for the many incidents that have been blamed on the gar.
38:11In the same rivers and lakes that they inhabit, there are also many American alligators.
38:20Not only do they share the same habitats, they have similar teeth.
38:27Their size and the profile of their snouts could easily be confused one for the other.
38:33I've come to this alligator park in southern Texas to get a look at some of the other characters that share the water with the alligator gar.
38:40Because I've got a sneaking feeling that actually the alligator gar is taking the rap for somebody else.
38:45And it could be these characters here.
38:47What I really want to do is get a fairly close look at the equipment of the alligator.
38:52And what would be really good would be to actually see them in action as well.
38:56But I think that part of it is probably best left to Gary.
39:00Gary Soaridge is a key witness for the gar's defense.
39:03Absolutely.
39:04These guys.
39:05He understands the crucial difference between the behavior of a fish and an alligator.
39:09Come on.
39:10Come on.
39:11You can imagine an animal like this would have no problem taking a full grown man.
39:18They're sneaky.
39:19They're tremendously patient.
39:21These animals right here.
39:22There's no telling how many deaths they're really responsible for every year.
39:26This is the apex hunter in the United States of America right here.
39:31Let's say it's a hot summer day.
39:32You decide you're going to dip your feet in the water a little bit.
39:34You're dangling them down and wow, they're coming up and hitting.
39:39When the alligator is hunting this prey, they'll shoot up out of the water and they'll grab whatever limb it can get.
39:43And on the way down it will do a death roll.
39:45And if you were to resist that, it's whatever limb it gets.
39:48Whether it be hand, finger or toes, it's coming off.
39:52The alligator gar doesn't have near the pressure.
39:55The American alligator can bite down with 3,000 pounds per square inch.
39:58And I'm sure many, many times folks may think that it's an alligator gar on a bad bite.
40:04But you can rest assured it's not.
40:05It's normally the American alligator.
40:09Gar have neither the power nor the attitude for premeditated violent attacks on humans.
40:15Alligator gar don't chew, so they only eat stuff big enough that they can swallow whole.
40:19Depending on the size of the gar, depends on what size that food item that they'll eat.
40:23But a good 6 to 8 foot gar could very easily take out a 12 to 14 inch fish.
40:30I'm left in little doubt that many of the attacks attributed to gator gar are far more likely to be the work of the American alligator.
40:39I've heard all these myths about the alligator guy, you know, ripping people's legs off, chopping alligators in half, generally terrorizing the neighborhood.
40:50But what's interesting is since having come here and spoken to people who actually know about this fish and having spent some time myself on the river,
40:58I've got this idea that it's actually just got a bad PR agent.
41:03I think it's a bit of a pussycat.
41:06It just so happens that here is a tank with some very big alligator gar in and this is actually my chance to test my theory for myself.
41:14I've been at the sharp end of a 3 foot gator gar's teeth.
41:28I've felt the muscle power held in the serpentine body of a 6 foot 8 inch monster.
41:35I think it's 123, 123 pounds.
41:40But now I've got to walk the talk.
41:45I've got to venture into the gar's own underwater world.
42:05None of the gar show any intent to harm me.
42:11In my view, it's the alligator gar itself that has been the victim.
42:18It's amazing to get this close.
42:19This fish really is a miracle of evolution, a true survivor.
42:24But if anyone is going to see the real giants, this fish needs to be allowed to grow without persecution.
42:30Maybe then we'll get to see those 14 footers again.
42:40Oh, that was, that, that was, that was an experience.
42:47Oh, I have to say the size, the size and the aspect of those fish when I first saw them was really quite intimidating.
42:54But I think this is a very, very misunderstood animal.
42:57And I think it really is time that we just try to understand this fish a little bit better.
43:06Want more of the world's wildest, strangest and most terrifying freshwater horrors?
43:11Visit our website at animalplanet.com slash river monsters.
43:15Follow the world's wildest, however, even bigger monsters.
43:16Watch out.
43:21Watch out.
43:33Follow it.
43:34Follow the ocean.
43:36Follow the ocean.
43:38Follow people.
43:41I find your own nie um boat.
43:42Handla so whenever your a me hunting bird we wreck.
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