Meet our croc squad

Learn from our experts

Since opening in 2010, Wild Florida has strived to educate locals and tourists alike on Florida’s natural habitat and wildlife. Our team works to build a connection between our animals and guests through hands-on animal encounters and close-up wildlife demonstrations to help inspire future conservation efforts. Along with encouraging guests to become involved in conservation, our team works to educate people on animals that intimidate them and debunk popular myths.

In Florida, the American alligator is one of the most misunderstood animals. In 2018, we decided to form the ‘Croc Squad’ within our animal care team. Each day, our Croc Squad cares for various crocodilians: caimans, crocodiles, and alligators from all over the world. Along with feeding and cleaning their exhibits, the Croc Squad does daily enrichment training with some of our crocodilians. At first, it may look like the animals are doing tricks, but the behaviors you see inside our Gator Park help the animals and trainers work together. By keeping the animals engaged – providing mental and physical exercise by teaching them something new – the Croc Squad ultimately creates a safer environment for them and the staff. Learning to ‘hold,’ for example, makes it easier for the team to draw blood to check for illnesses without wrestling or trapping the animal. This is just an example of our Croc Squad’s work at Wild Florida, and you can see more of their training in-person inside our Gator Park.