iStockphoto / Svetlana Dyachkova
The veterinary team at University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine recently performed an MRI on a 376-pound alligator from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park.
Caretakers had discovered the massive alligator was afflicted with a painful ear infection. So they went about performing an MRI on the large alligator to rule out any more serious afflictions.
Footage of the alligator MRI, taken by Dr. Bridget Walker at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, have since gone viral on social media. And it’s easy to see why. The Internet is amazed by seeing a fully-grown alligator getting an MRI and the juxtaposition of a living dinosaur coming in contact with modern technology.
On Facebook, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park shared photos along with answers to popular questions they received about the alligator’s medical procedure.
If that caption from Facebook isn’t loading, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park wrote:
“Q) Where are their ears? A crocodilian’s ear is directly behind their eyes and can close tightly to prevent water from getting in. (See the photo of our alligators and the ear is highlighted in yellow).”
“Q) Why is that person on Brooke’s back? From UF College of Veterinary Medicine: “…in order to draw the amount of blood we needed for all of his tests in the most efficient fashion, we needed to utilize the sinus located on the top of his head. Proper angle is incredibly important to minimize risk, and that is achieved by going directly from on top straight down, so it was necessary to sit on Brooke’s back momentarily. We assure you this was not painful to him in any way and was only for a brief amount of time. This is common practice in crocodilian medicine, and only done when deemed necessary for sample collection.””
“Q) How are we going to give him his medicine? We train with our animals frequently, and Brooke has years of experience coming to his name, accepting food (sometimes with medicine), and holding still. Some of our crocodilians are trained to remain still for blood draws without restraining them. So, however Brooke needs medical treatment, he will be able to receive it without any stress or worry.”
That post on Facebook can be accessed directly here.
This isn’t the first time that an alligator MRI performed by the University of Florida (Gators) has gone viral. Back in September 2020, a 12-foot, 660-pound gator was brought to UF for a medical procedure and the images are surreal.
If you’re a regular BroBible reader and wondering why the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park name rings a bell, perhaps it’s this?
In February of 2022, workers at the Zoological Park were moving a crocodile from one part of the park to another. In order to do so, they had to drive out on a main road adjacent to the park. At that point, an 8-foot crocodile escaped and began running free into traffic and zookeepers had to capture it.
They said they used an enclosed van ‘because it’s safe’ and they were only traveling 0.1 miles on A1A. Driving saved a lot of time and energy versus trying to move the crocodile inside of the park.