Gator haters will love this

BC-fbc-florida-gators
It’s a Croc: Florida Football Guide Misses the Mark on Gators By Pete Coates
c.2003 Bloomberg News
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Reptile lovers can tell the animal on the cover of the University of Florida football media guide is a croc.
For a school whose sports teams are nicknamed the Gators, having a picture of a crocodile on the guide instead of an alligator is a little embarrassing.
“Trust me, everyone in our office knows the difference between a crocodile and an alligator now,” said school spokeswoman Mary Howard.
Howard said the university in Gainesville, Florida, hired a local company to supply a photograph of an alligator for the cover. Instead, the school received a photo of a crocodile, which has a lighter color and narrower snout than an alligator.
Even the teeth, which are prominently displayed on the cover, are arranged differently.
“It’s not hard to tell them apart,” said Henry Cabbage, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Nobody spotted the mistake before the media guide was printed with a cover showing a crocodile with its mouth open below a picture of coach Ron Zook leading his team onto the field. After a fan noticed the error and called the school, it set off a wave of publicity and some snickering among reptile experts known as herpetologists.
With about 1.5 million alligators in Florida, Cabbage said state residents may be getting too comfortable with the large creatures. Last month, a 12-year-old boy was killed by an alligator while swimming in a river in Tavares, Florida.
“Some people almost adopt them,” Cabbage said in a telephone interview. “They give them names like ’Old Joe’ and feed them hot dogs and marshmallows. That’s not a good idea for an 800-pound animal with a brain the size of your thumb.”

 

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Gators’ media guide has crocodile on cover
Eds: UPDATES with photo number.
AP Photo FLPAP105
By The Associated Press
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) – What a croc!
A large crocodile – and not the school’s namesake alligator mascot – is featured on the cover of the University of Florida’s 2003 football media guide.
A photo of Florida coach Ron Zook leading the team onto the field is superimposed over the olive green crocodile. The words “Florida” and “2003 Football Guide” also appear on the front, but the word “Gators” is absent.
Florida spokesman Steve McClain said he regrets the error.
“We asked for an alligator, we paid for an alligator and unfortunately we did not get an alligator,” McClain told The Associated Press late Tuesday in a telephone interview. “It’s unfortunate, it’s somewhat embarrassing obviously, but the bottom line is we thought we were getting an alligator.”
The school was looking for a certain “design element” for the cover, McClain said, but none of the school’s stock photography matched what the media relations staff needed.
The school sought outside help for a picture, employing a number of production companies to help with the search. After a picture was found, the error was unfortunately not caught before production, McClain said.
American crocodiles have pointy snouts and are found mostly in mangroves where fresh and saltwater mix. They are a light, olive-green color.
Alligators have broad snouts, live mainly in freshwater surroundings and are nearly black. They are found throughout Florida and vastly outnumber the state’s stock of crocs.
AP-ES-07-29-03 2328EDT

 

i hear the 200 guide has a crocodile, too.

i think theyu are conisdering reprinting it.