Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
Don't Be a Chicken Tender: How to Peacefully Coexist with Alligators
Aaron Palmieri from the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy shares his expertise on alligators, exploring their behaviors, habitat, and how to safely live alongside these prehistoric apex predators.
• American alligators date back 8 million years in the fossil record, predating humans
• Adult alligators may only eat 15-20 times per year, using sunlight and ambient temperature to power bodily functions
• Alligators are opportunistic and ambush hunters that will eat nearly anything except humans
• An estimated 350-400 alligators live on Palmetto Bluff property, with their population growing alongside lagoon development
• Males average 11-14 feet with the largest confirmed alligator at Palmetto Bluff measuring 12 feet
• South Carolina has approximately 100,000 alligators compared to Florida's 1.3 million and Louisiana's 2 million
• Female alligators lay 30-50 eggs annually with only 2-14 hatchlings typically surviving to adulthood
• Never feed alligators—it's illegal and conditions them to associate humans with food
• Keep pets leashed near water and maintain at least a 10-foot distance from alligators
• Alligators share a common ancestor with dinosaurs, making them more closely related to birds than lizards
Join us for alligator talks at the Conservancy on April 16th and in August on the water, or email with questions about these fascinating creatures.
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. Of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. I'm your host, jeff Ford, and today I am joined once again with Aaron Palmieri, outreach and Education Manager for the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy. Last time Aaron joined us, we chirped about all things feathered yes, birds folks. It was episode 16, if you'd like to go back and give it a listen, today we're diving into the swampy world of alligators, who share a common ancestor with birds, that's right, dinosaurs. We plan on examining their impact here at Palmetto Bluff and sharing safety tips for living in their habit. Tis the season, aaron. It's been too long. Welcome back to the show. Happy to be back, jeff. So let's get things going right out of the gates. Can you give us a quick overview of alligators?
Speaker 2:Sure. So interestingly enough, the American alligator is a prehistoric animal. They are dated back in the fossil record for up to 8 million years ago, way before humans or even our ancestors, australopithecus, were roaming the Earth. So they have been on this landscape for a long time and they've seen a lot. They've had their own predators. They were predators. They're the only apex predator we have left in this area. What is an apex predator? So an apex predator is essentially the top of the food chain. So when some of the other ones we had around here were black bear, cougar, red wolf and even jaguar at one point. But the main thing that ever messes with an apex predator is either a fellow apex predator so in the case of alligators, a cougar might get them or us. Messes with an apex predator is either a fellow apex predator so in the case of alligators, a cougar might get them or us. We're an apex predator.
Speaker 1:Interesting. What do alligators typically eat and how do they hunt?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so essentially, naturally, everything but us is on their menu. Uh, they're opportunistic hunters and they're ambush hunters. So opportunistic.
Speaker 1:Is it? Does that I think this episode is going in the direction of? Of safety is going to be number one, right? Is it fair to say, if there is ever not to jump too far ahead? But if there there are opportunist predators you're saying, does that mean when a human does something weird, or that they shouldn't do, that they, there is an opportunity for them to attack so with people.
Speaker 2:It is actually disobeying, actually, a state or federal law. That will actually result in an alligator starting to view us as a potential food. Um, and I'm sure we'll probably get more into that, but um, essentially part of the reason they're opportunistic is because the fact that they don't always catch prey.
Speaker 1:An adult alligator might only eat 15 to 20 times in a year wow, what do they do when they're not eating, because that's a major part of our day yeah, it's funny, right, being a reptile, they don't have to eat every day like we do, because they don't power their own immune system or digestive system.
Speaker 2:All that is being fueled and powered by ambient temperature and sunlight. That's why you'll see them basking on the banks. Is that's helping own immune system or digestive system? All of that is being fueled and powered by ambient temperature and sunlight. That's why you'll see them basking on the banks. Is that's helping their body to function?
Speaker 1:So this time of year we see them very much exposed out of the water on the banks because of how they restore their energy, yep absolutely.
Speaker 2:And now, when an alligator is basking, they're not in hunt mode, but if prey is going to come up right up to their face, they're going to be annoyed yeah. Well, they're going to take a shot. I mean, they're opportunistic, yeah, but yeah, pretty much everything's on their food chain though Turtles, frogs, other alligators, snakes, birds, raccoons, deer, pigs you name it, just not us.
Speaker 1:Now they're carnivores. Do they do any vegetables, berries? Would they go that route? Or mostly it's going to be something that has?
Speaker 2:meat. Not intentionally. The only thing I could think of is if they're catching a prey item and some grass or some shrubs or foliage gets in their mouth. But yeah, they're not intentionally going to go after berries or acorns or anything like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, they're not intentionally going to go after berries or acorns or anything like that. Okay, now, one of the interesting parts of Bluffton is that it is probably one of the few parts in South Carolina where we have residential communities filled with alligators. You're typically seeing a lot more alligators on the banks in Florida Florida is known for that. Has the population in the low country changed over the years? What has it shifted? Or how has it shifted here at Palmetto Bluff, if it has?
Speaker 2:So it absolutely has. So alligators naturally in this area would have been um habitating wetlands and any natural bodies of water, um. A great tip to know if there's an alligator in a body water is if you put your finger in it comes out wet. There's probably an alligator.
Speaker 1:If you put your fingers describe that again.
Speaker 2:So if you put your finger in the water and it comes out wet, there's probably an alligator.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it took me such a second there, our listeners. Hopefully it didn't take you as long as me. Yeah, but no.
Speaker 2:With that said, so they can go into saltwater, but they can't live in that full time, so at most maybe a couple of days to up to a week. Actually, last year there was an alligator that washed up dead on Hilton Head. Most likely it succumbed to the salt.
Speaker 2:So it was in the water too long and they can't naturally secrete that salt from their body. So, um, yep, only fresh water. Yep, so any of the lagoons on property, the wetlands canals, and then that's the thing. So, as this area has grown, with all these different neighborhoods in all these communities, in bluffton you build lagoons, or the more technical term is a retention pond, because what that's doing is helping to filter runoff.
Speaker 1:Um, and if you build it, they'll come yeah, so it's fair to say that the population has increased over time because of the the number of lagoons that have grown absolutely okay so how common is it for people to find an alligator in their yard?
Speaker 2:It depends on the time of year. So this time of year we're in the spring. This is the breeding season. You're going to get a bit more movement. You'll have alligators being chased out of ponds by bigger males. You'll have the females moving to go find those bigger males, and it can actually get a little depressing. You might, if it's a, if we have a good rain with lots of big puzzle ground, you might find a little three-footer to sit in a puddle because it got kicked out of their pond oh, so the little guys get classically kicked out of the bigger ponds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just nature of the the food chain.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, it's either go somewhere else or potentially become a meal yeah, now, that is something that alligators do, correct like they'll.
Speaker 1:They will sometimes eat another alligator 100.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, seen some scary videos of that, the the commonality of it. I'm not 100 sure how often it happens. I know young alligators, little hatchlings. They are eaten a lot more often. But a a 10 foot, 11 foot alligator will and can eat a 5-footer or a 6-footer Basically half their size. Oh yeah, which helps to regulate the population. They're self-regulating.
Speaker 1:So alligators are self-regulating. Do we here at Palmetto Bluff and Beaufort County do anything to just not only like observe the population, but do we have any restrictions in place that you know of or things we try to do?
Speaker 2:On property. We do not. I know there are communities in the city like Hilton Head Island does have a size restriction, so gators over eight feet in length are deemed a nuisance and therefore can be removed, which is in place for good intentions, but it has an opposite effect of what you want because, first of all, that alligator survived to get that big. It's like holy cow. I've lived this long, I've been able to sire offspring. Oh, now I'm too big, I gotta die. And the thing is, is that's done because people are afraid of alligators? I mean, they're. They are a prehistoric looking creature, spooky, uh, yeah, it's. It's hard for humans to connect with reptiles. That's why there tends to be a lot of um, animosity towards them, but um and even generalized fear.
Speaker 1:Even though we already mentioned earlier that alligators don't attack folks or are trying to avoid humans, because of our pecking order, they're they're still very scary to folks around the around this part of the country absolutely, and then.
Speaker 2:So when it comes to like attacks down in florida, which we hear about the most, they average maybe seven attacks a year. So 365 days average about seven attacks, um, and of course they're the one you hear in the news all the time which they actually don't even have the most wild alligators, and it's not us florida doesn't they don't have the most wild alligators where in the states has the most alligators?
Speaker 2:louisiana, ah, makes sense so out of about five million alligators in the southeast, two million are in louisiana florida is in the Southeast, 2 million are in Louisiana. Florida is second with 1.3 million and in South Carolina we're kind of right in the middle at about 100,000.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so we don't have much compared to Florida? No, yeah, not at all. And then Louisiana crushing it yeah. Down in the bayou.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, bayou, yeah, but you never hear about louisiana in the news, right? Yeah?
Speaker 1:so this, you don't have as many issues with alligators there maybe we just like to focus on the hurricanes that go through louisiana versus versus the gators yeah, yeah, that's true how? So you mentioned it earlier alligators can get big. What's like the max size, weight range for alligators and then lifespan?
Speaker 2:so the lifespan? Alligators in the wild can live anywhere from 30 to 50 years, which is a long time for a wild animal, um, again, being an apex predator. That helps if they can get to a certain size. Few things are going to mess with them, um, but now average sizes. So males will get bigger than the females. Uh, they'll average 11 to 14 feet, with most of them being around that 11 foot mark. Um, here at palmetto bluff, the largest one that we have confirmed length of was length of was 12 foot on the dot.
Speaker 2:So what part of property that? So I believe it was the duck pond, which is that big body of water you see on your right when you're coming onto property. Okay, yeah, so I believe it was there it's far away from everyone yep, but uh, we do have a good number of nine foot, ten foot and 11 foot alligators on property now.
Speaker 1:We were walking over here for the podcast and we talked to a member that we were about to do a discussion on alligators. It sounded like she had a name for the podcast. And we talked to a member that we were about to do a discussion on alligators. It sounded like she had a name for the gator in their backyard. Do we tag these gators, or is there like a group of members who have different names for for, uh, the gators that are in these lagoons?
Speaker 2:so we've heard quite a few different gators have been given names. The conservancy does not name any alligators and the reason why is when you name wild animals it's kind of a double-edged sword. It does, on one end, help people become more comfortable, but on that same note, sometimes people get too comfortable. Then think about people trying to go get take selfies with bison over in yellowstone. You eventually have people go oh, that's gary. And they start getting a little too comfortable with gary the alligator, start trying to get too close for selfies, and then what?
Speaker 1:have you here. Here it happens yeah, yeah. So it's yeah, double-edged sword well, let's, let's get into that. What should people do if they encounter an alligator in the wild Sure.
Speaker 2:So I guess my counter question is in what terms for encountering?
Speaker 1:Let's just say I'm in my backyard. There's a gator on the banks of my backyard. It crawled up the lagoon that's adjacent to my lot and I'm sitting on the back porch and I'm maybe four or five feet from it.
Speaker 2:Four or five feet. I mean I would if it's not continuing to crawl towards you if it just came up to lounge on the bank, give it space, make sure kids and pets aren't going up to it. Um, but most likely, if it came up onto the bank it was probably just coming up to bask, okay, um is there a safe distance that you would recommend, just from a a range perspective?
Speaker 2:right. So if you're like, if you're walking along one of the paths here on property either just yourself or with your dogs and there's an alligator on the bank, slash the path. Give at least a good, maybe 10 foot perimeter around it. If you're needing to continue in that direction, try to give a 10 foot berth. If not the great thing about Palmetto bluff there's so many different walking trails you can backtrack and take a a way around. That's not anywhere near the alligator. Okay, 10 feet.
Speaker 1:That's helpful. Now, I assume this has never occurred. If an alligator were to sprint at someone, what should they do? Because alligators are fast, they can be really quick. What would someone do in that scenario?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So they are good for a quick burst of speed, especially from the water, because, again, they're an ambush hunter. If you ever are in a situation where an alligator is chasing you, we've all heard do the zigzag to try to confuse it. No, just don't say just run straight away from it. And that's because, while they're good for a quick burst of speed, they're going to tire out quick, and if you're spending that time zigzagging, you're just giving it more chance to try to catch up to you.
Speaker 1:The frequency of something like that occurring, though, is extremely rare. Is that fair to say? Because you you kind of have to get close and where you shouldn't be, in order for an alligator to do something like that? No right.
Speaker 2:So with river, a river preserve for example, uh, one of our conservation easements, there's the waterway trail, so the it's right along the inland waterway and you can walk that and spook alligators off that bank.
Speaker 1:All day long.
Speaker 2:All day long and actually that's a good behavior to see. It might give you a little bit of a heart attack if you didn't know they were there, but you want them to naturally want to be away from you. Now, sometimes there's one that is going to stay and doesn't know what to do. That doesn't necessarily mean that that's a bad alligator or a nuisance gator. So sometimes, sometimes there's just those that don't know what to do. They don't have the largest brains.
Speaker 1:OK, so they're not a super intelligent apex predator?
Speaker 2:No, their instincts bar none, but intelligence is not their forte.
Speaker 1:Now, since we've stumbled into this, the safety side of this, giving tips out to our listeners I'm sure some of them might be interested. Has there ever been an encounter here at Palmetto Bluff with?
Speaker 2:an alligator. So there have been a couple issues of alligators chasing fishermen up banks with their catch. There has been one dog taken by an alligator on property, but um, it was an off-leash dog, which we do have a leash law on property for a reason, and that is for the dog safety, not because we don't like dogs, it's because an off-leash dog is able to get far away from the owner. It will go up to the bank and they're on the food chain for an alligator yeah, so, yeah, so.
Speaker 1:So that's a huge safety tip Dogs, keep them on your leash on property here.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Don't let them go play in the ponds or lagoons, because they're loud, they splash, and to a predator, splashing in the water indicates a struggling prey item.
Speaker 1:So that's where they might get more opportunistic, exactly.
Speaker 2:And same thing with children. Again, we're not naturally on that food chain, but if a kid's allowed to kick around in the water or throw things in the water, that's going to entice an alligator.
Speaker 1:No, this is all good, and part of why we wanted to do this podcast is so that we can reinstill these principles, so that we are living on this beautiful property safely. All right, aaron, I am going to kick myself if I don't ask this question. Have you ever had to assist with an alligator being too close to a home, like in someone's backyard? Have there been any incidents like that?
Speaker 2:It's funny you ask that. So normally wildlife calls are handled either by Jay or our Land O'Off manager, brian. However, a week ago, as of recording this podcast, after hours got a call from security. There was a six foot alligator stuck on someone's porch so I'm actually the closest to property for the conservancy team so came on over actually the closest to property for the conservancy team so came on over, grabbed our snare, pole electrical tape, and then we had some security staff there as well and we got the snare on it. And now alligators, when you snare them immediately, they're going to start rolling and what's a snare?
Speaker 1:is it that stick with the loop?
Speaker 2:around it. Yep, exactly, okay, um, okay, and usually what we do is we snare them and allow them to spin themselves till they're tired. But because of how small that porch was, it was starting to bang against everything and thankfully the snare was starting to wrap the mouse shut, so I just had to go ahead and hop on it first to help hold it down you hopped on the alligator. Yep had to pin it down. Then had security hop on the back end to help keep it.
Speaker 1:Of the alligator Yep.
Speaker 2:So you had two people on this alligator. Yeah Well, it took actually three of us to pick it up, to carry it across the street afterwards.
Speaker 1:And you weren't nervous at all. No, that is very impressive. Just so listeners have it correct, you're not the person to necessarily call if there is a situation like this.
Speaker 2:Right. So, technically, the first people to contact is actually security, and that's because they have a presence 24-7 on property and there are some wildlife call situations that they're able to handle, but then ones like a six-foot alligator on a porch or a timber rattlesnake in the yard. They'll often then reach out to us, and if it's during hours, either Brian or Jay is usually the one involved, but after hours it might be me.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, thank you for your efforts and the assist there. Yeah, no worries, I'm sure the resident of that porch was very grateful for you guys.
Speaker 2:I think they thought I was a little crazy.
Speaker 1:They've got a different image of you now.
Speaker 2:Yep Jumping on the gators back.
Speaker 1:Well, touche Anything in the name of safety, for sure. Oh yeah, Now Palmetto Bluff is continuing to be developed. We all are aware of that. What conservation efforts do we have in place, if any, to help balance the human development and the alligator habitats here?
Speaker 2:So wetlands are protected at a federal level and so we don't alter any of the wetlands. Those are going to be natural habitat for the alligators. Now, as Palmetto Bluff continues to be developed, more lagoons are going to be put in. The waterway is going to be expanded. That is going to create more habitat for them. Like I said earlier, if you build it, they will come. We estimate our population somewhere between 350 and 400. Total alligators Yep on property. Build out complete that no idea.
Speaker 1:That's a good question, yeah, yeah, no, that's. It's good to better understand that as the community grows, there will be more alligators, just nature of the increase in lagoons. So let's let's go into some fun questions here. If alligators had their own podcast, what do you think they'd talk about?
Speaker 2:So what they would talk about with their own podcast. To me, thinking about how they eat so many different types of food, I feel like they would have a foodies podcast. Yeah, and episode one in my eyes would probably be about raccoons eat so many different types of food. I feel like they would have a foodies podcast. Yeah, and episode one in my eyes would probably be about raccoons how to how to have more raccoons because there was actually a gut content study done on alligators that found that raccoons were the most common prey item for them interesting, just local to the low country or generalized across alligators everywhere so I can't recall where the study took place, but I think, considering alligators range, raccoons are throughout that whole range as well, now raccoons.
Speaker 2:So all animals go to fresh water to drink, but raccoons also go to clean their hands and also clean food, so that's a little bit more activity by the water. They will try to swim to wading bird rookeries to eat those eggs, which then makes them a potential target for the alligator. They also will try to raid alligator nests. And mama alligator forget mama bear. You have mama alligator, she's gonna take care of that raccoon she's gonna find the raccoon quickly coming into the nest.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, so there's a lot. I would imagine that's part of why they're the most common prey item in gut content, because there's a lot more potential encounters.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, we, as humans, love to talk about food, and that makes complete sense that alligators would like to talk about food. You mentioned eggs. There is a Big conversation going out in the human world right now about the cost of eggs. Could you tell us a bit more about alligator eggs? Like, how many eggs does a croc sorry, an alligator hatch at one time? What, like? What's their makeup?
Speaker 2:So this is probably part of why they're one of our first conservation success stories, because the number of offspring they do have. So they'll lay 30 to 50 eggs oops, sorry, at one time, yep, for one in one season, so that one female she'll lay 30 to 50 eggs and they'll breed every year, whereas, like some of our mammalian apex predators will have offspring every other year. Um, now, anywhere between 2 and 14 of those hatchlings are going to make it to sexual maturity, which is about 10 years of age. Two to four, so that's like two to 14.
Speaker 1:Two to 14. Ok, so you're, at best case scenario, 50 percent of your eggs, but at worst case you might be less than 10 percent Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but because they have so many offspring and they breed every year. That's part of why they've been able to bounce back so quickly, because they were almost extirpated from the landscape.
Speaker 1:They were considered an endangered species at one time.
Speaker 2:They were actually one of the first animals listed on, actually the predecessor to the Endangered Species Act, and within 20 years they went from in trouble to delisted, which is a very short amount of time. That's a quick jump, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Now you see a lot of alligators. You're obviously very knowledge about them. What do you think is the coolest part of an alligator?
Speaker 2:Coolest part, gosh, a lot of them. The dino kid in me wants a point at everything. They are great mothers. Like we think, reptiles are cold blood, uncaring. But they are great mothers In courtship. They are quite romantic. But on the dino kid in me they have bone armor, osteoderms. Tell us about osteoderms so you notice all those little grooves on their backs and at the base of their necks. Each one of those is a little bony plate. So osteoderms is just bone.
Speaker 1:But for the alligator what it acts like is like an armor for their back and on their neck dang, and that's in their genetic makeup as a protection mechanism, or just how they, you know, evolve as a species Likely as they evolved as a species.
Speaker 2:When I'm thinking about the other crocodilians in the world, I believe they all have osteoderms, so it could just be something specific to crocodilia. There were other crocodile-like animals in prehistoricoric times. I don't know if they had osteoderms or not, so it could be something unique to crocodilia. On that same note, osteoderms are just bony protection, so armadillos their shell is considered an osteoderm very cool.
Speaker 1:Now we mentioned it in the intro birds and crocodiles are cousins. Yes, could you tell us the interrelationship there?
Speaker 2:Sure so crocodilians and dinosaurs are relatives to each other. They share a common ancestor and birds descended from theropod dinosaurs. So theropod dinosaurs would be your T-Rex and Velociraptors, those type of dinosaurs, so not like a Brachiosaurus or Triceratops or anything like that. Those are also. That's the main group of dinosaurs that they have fossil evidence of feathers for. So feathers evolved for birds back when it was the theropod dinosaurs. So feathers evolved for birds back when it was the theropod dinosaurs, and not necessarily for flight, but through evolution feathers became an adaptation to help with flight.
Speaker 1:Became a mechanism so that they could fly, exactly so birds, when they were first instituted onto this planet, weren't able to fly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you have that kind of. So Archaeopteryx was the big discovery. That was that kind of in between. Betweenchaeopteryx was the big discovery. That was that kind of in between between a feathered dinosaur and a flying bird, so they were capable of flight. How much flight is kind of up in the air?
Speaker 1:No point in tending yeah.
Speaker 2:But feathers, like we first started off for display purposes, then it may have been feathers on the wings, may have became an adaptation to help with getting up surfaces with more ease, so flapping their arms to help get them up a tree or up a steep cliff, and then eventually, as evolution created hollow bones and as they developed keels, which is the bony protrusion between the breast muscles, so like when you cut a Turkey or a chicken, that bone right there. Yeah, so over time, just multiple adaptations form to allow for flight. But but yeah, so that relationship from descending from dinosaurs is why the alligator in the lagoon is more closely related to the great blue heron on the edge than it is the lizard on your porch.
Speaker 1:That's wild to even understand.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, aaron, I've I've enjoyed learning a lot more about alligators today, and what I'd like to do with finishing off our time together is have you run through top three safety tips for our member listeners to remember, and for listeners who maybe have alligators in their home not in their home on the banks of their home. So yeah, give us a nice summary here. What are the top three safety tips to come away with?
Speaker 2:So, for anyone that fishes, when you go to cast the rod, I know it's habit for us to just stand right there at the edge of the bank when you cast your line out, though, though, after you've done that, go ahead and take a few steps back. That way, if there ever was a situation where an alligator tried to get you, you have a couple feet to be able to react instead of losing a couple toes. Um, that's one for those that enjoy kayaking, absolutely enjoy kayaking the inland waterway. It's a great time. Uh, you are in this large foreign object to the alligator. To them, you are this weird kind of spooky creature, and now, if you go by a bank with an alligator, it goes in the water. It's not coming in for the kill, it's going where it feels safer because it just sees that weird thing floating by.
Speaker 2:If you ever were in a situation where an alligator was intentionally coming up to you in a kayak, use your paddle and you smack it on the head. But now that's not free reign. To go and paddle up to an alligator and smack it on the head Exactly that would fall under harassment, which leads to my last and most important thing. It's not even a rule. It is state and federal law. It is illegal to feed or harass an alligator or their nest, and you would think that's pretty easy to follow, right? That is where most issues arise from alligators. If people would just stop feeding the alligators, that would eliminate so many issues, because when we feed our pets at home, they know that we are giving them food. But if I'm eating some chicken tenders walking by the um hole number three on the golf course and I throw into the alligator to watch it snap its jaw shut, what I have just done is I've turned myself into a chicken tender, I've turned you into a chicken tender. I've turned everyone listening to this into a chicken tender.
Speaker 1:Let's stop turning ourselves into chicken tenders.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and we can't. There's not one demographic you can point the finger at, so I'm sure some people that would probably want to immediately say the inn or general public. But we've had to get after residents about this too. Employees as well. Everyone is responsible on just following that law.
Speaker 1:And as long as they do.
Speaker 2:There goes the problems. Enjoy these prehistoric creatures.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it is. It's so fun to see alligators. I mean, you see a lot more joy, I think, when someone's out in the water and they spot a dolphin. But there is something mystical about knowing that alligators live around here, we are in their habitat as much as they're in ours, and and to know that that is something that's part of the the Palmetto bluff low country experience, it's it's it's unique, it's the low country. Yeah Well, aaron, this has been great. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise on everything alligators and especially for the safety tips. I know our listeners will appreciate that you and your team. You always have so much going on at the Conservancy classroom and beyond, obviously, all over campus. What are some of the upcoming events for you guys?
Speaker 2:Right. So we try to do two alligator talks a year. We actually have one in April, on April 16th, for people to join us, and then the other one is in August. We're trying out a program this year where we go out on a Duffy boat with um Cassie over at montage and cruise the water and just look for all gears and talk about them, um, but also to never be afraid to stop by the classroom or shoot us an email. If you have questions or concerns about all gears, we will. We are happy to talk your ear off about them for however long you need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so listeners, if this episode wasn't enough for you, get over to the conservancy on the 16th. If you are a member, listener. And oh, public too, right, everyone?
Speaker 2:Yeah, public.
Speaker 1:Come on out, check it out. Uh, I, I think this was a super interesting place, place to spend some time, regardless of the topic. And, uh, regardless of the topic, and yeah, Aaron, thanks again for coming on. Thank you for having me. Listeners, feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and get some healthy momentum for the rest of your week.
Speaker 1:Lately, I've been thinking a lot about results and how they actually occur In a work setting. We get results from building a healthy team culture by having talented, capable people, a healthy team culture by having talented, capable people. On a personal sense, we get results by creating a plan and typically learning a new skill. It's funny every time we experience what we can consider a positive result, it builds credibility with ourselves, and the only way we build credibility with ourselves is from past results and present results. What this means is that in the present we must experience success, but also we hinge on how we view the past and how we may have executed or performed in a certain area of our life in the past. We build our confidence with our ability to produce, and one of the most important things that I believe makes someone successful in life or with their healthy lifestyle is their essence of credibility from within. You can't keep achieving if you don't view yourself as the type of person who gets results. And in reality, no results come exclusively from ourselves. I often think of what the team and I have been able to build here from a wellness programming perspective at Palmetto Bluff, and quickly realize that it's not the result of one individual. It's the collective, many efforts, efforts that led to the impact that we continue to strive to make with the members who take part in our classes, our education, our new fitness app, and that's so crucial to reflect on personally.
Speaker 1:If you want results, you won't get them just by living in a cave and isolating yourself. It comes with the collective energy of others. So there's three things that I want you to remember this week. Number one take responsibility for results. If you're not getting results in your work, in your life, that's on you. Second, expect to win. Don't approach new activities, new habits that you're trying to build with the mindset of, oh, I don't think I can do this. When you go in thinking you're going to win at something. Even if you don't, the results are usually better. And lastly, finish strong. Sometimes we start things in life and we don't finish. Everybody is good at starting. We're all bad at finishing, so use that phrasing finish strong. Whether it's a workout, whether it's the end of a long week and your nutrition's been going really well, keep the mindset of always finish strong.
Speaker 1:I also think that we can apply these three approaches to our relationships. We have to take responsibility for the results in our relationships. We have to know that we can win with the people closest to us. And just because we had a strong relationship with someone the day we got married, the first time we met them as friends, doesn't mean that we shouldn't or that we're allowed to not tend to that relationship, that relationship. So I know oftentimes we talk about fitness and nutrition and all those aspects on this podcast, but what I want you to do with these healthy momentums is know that everything we talk about applies to everything outside of the sphere of fitness and nutrition. So if you make a mistake in a relationship or in a interpersonal situation, take responsibility, be sorry for the part you played in it and be constantly asking yourself the question what can I do better? What can I do better in my family life, my faith, my fitness, my financials, and what can I do better to have more fun this week. Always go back to those five Fs If you're unfamiliar with those.
Speaker 1:This is a good time to go back to our Staircase of Change series that we kicked off at the beginning of this year. We're four months into 2025, so these are the times in our lives where it is outstanding to step back, to pause and to be present again, and with this impromptu, healthy momentum, what I would call kind of more of a preachy healthy momentum this week, I want you to take this last statement away we tend to get what we expect, both from ourselves and others. When we expect more, we tend to get more. When we expect less, we tend to get less. Always expect more. Take responsibility for results, expect to win, and let's finish strong this week.
Speaker 1:That's a wrap on this week's episode. Thank you for spending time with us once again. If you have someone in your life who lives in an alligator habitat, this might be the very episode to share out with them. Also, don't forget rating us. Five stars will help others find us on podcasts everywhere, so scroll to the bottom of your app. Give us a quick rating comment. If you're interested in different topics than we've been presenting. We'd love to hear from you. Until next week, remember to actively participate in life on your terms.
