Gator Love

Read Jeff Klinkenberg's story: Gators are falling for each other all over Florida right now. Raging hormones have them on edge.

Males are bellowing. Females are grunting. Boy gators wander out of lakes and creep over terra firma, looking for a pond that might contain an interested girl gator.

If she is interested, he'll bellow some more, she'll grunt and he might stick his noggin out of the water and vibrate until droplets fly off his throat like a dragon's smoke.

If another interested male is around, the two bulls will fight, which involves lots of splashing, roaring and unpleasant biting. The winning suitor will swim up to the female and thump his snout on the top of the water a couple of times as if to say, "Hey, sweetheart, want to come up to my place?'' Then Lothario will plop his enormous head on top of her smaller head and hold her under the water.

Here in north-central Florida, a more romantic version of gator love is happening.