American Alligator Mating — Okefenokee Swamp

Each April and May, the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia and northern Florida — the largest blackwater swamp in North America — hosts the American alligator's mating season, when the males' extraordinary bellowing infrasound display — a vibration so low it is felt in the chest rather than heard — resonates across the dark tannin-stained water as bulls establish territories and attract females in a wildlife encounter of primeval biological power in one of the continent's most atmospheric wilderness landscapes. The alligator bellowing display, in which the male raises his head and tail above the water surface and produces a low-frequency roar accompanied by water dancing on his back from the sound vibrations, is one of the most physically affecting wildlife performances in North America — the sound felt as a chest compression from 50 metres and audible across the swamp for several kilometres. The Okefenokee's canal boat tours and wilderness canoe trails through miles of lily-pad prairies, cypress cathedrals, and pitcher plant bogs create an access infrastructure for an encounter with one of North America's largest and most ancient predators in a swamp landscape of extraordinary ecological character. The sandhill cranes, wood storks, and purple gallinules sharing the Okefenokee with 15,000 alligators complete a southeastern US wildlife experience of genuine wildness just three hours from Atlanta. The spring water lily bloom creates a simultaneous botanical spectacle of considerable beauty around the mating alligators.