Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is…
It is a strange tradition to throw your money away, but that is exactly what people want to do when they see a pond. The problem for our animals is that the coins are toxic to them and, in the case of alligators and crocodiles, the coins can sit in their stomach for years leaching toxins into their system. Some alligators are actually very good at sweeping coins off the bottom of a pool and swallowing them. One zoo in Florida had a Nile crocodile die with 1.5 pounds of loose change in its stomach.
Experience has shown that simple signs asking people not to throw coins are not very effective, so we use an alligator bank. It draws people’s attention, has two simple statements and is fun to feed coins into:
“Coins can kill animals. Please do not put coins in our pools.”
“Coins can save animals. Money you donate here will go to conservation programs.”
Since putting the bank in place, the coins in the pools have been significantly reduced. In addition, we have been able to raise money for a variety of conservation projects. Some of the organizations and projects we have contributed to include:
– The Tomistoma Task Force
– The Lion Tamarin Fund
– Matt Shirley, a grad student working with Crocodiles in West Africa
– The Madras Crocodile bank for Gharial Conservation
– The Crocodilian Advisory Group
– A wild Black Caiman project
– A Philippine Crocodile project
– The Hornbill Research Foundation
– Woodstork research
– Philippine Crocodiles Mabuwaya Foundation
– Blue-throated Macaws Bird Endowment

BLOG TOPICS
- Why would a rattlesnake’s tail glow under black light?
- Why do crocodiles sit with their mouths open?
- A Chinese Alligator in Heliox: Format Frequencies in a Crocodilian
- Crocodylian Head Width Allometry and Phylogenetic Prediction of Body Size in Extinct Crocodyliforms
- Divergent Morphology among Populations of the New Guinea Crocodile, Crocodylus novaeguineae (Schmidt, 1928): Diagnosis of an Independent Lineage and Description of a New Species
- The Frontoparietal Fossa and Dorsotemporal Fenestra of Archosaurs and Their Significance for Interpretations of Vascular and Muscular Anatomy in Dinosaurs
- Surveying death roll behavior across Crocodylia
- Meeting Karen Allen
- Crocodiles using tools?
- Can Crocodiles change color?
- SAAF Film Credits
- Yacare caiman eating the eggs of a conspecific during oviposition
- Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is…
- Are Crocodilians Like Dinosaurs?
- Crocodilian Immune Activity
- Field Research in Gambia
- Crocodile Laying Eggs After a Move
- Crocodile Food
- Crocodilian Enrichment: The good, the bad, and the untried
- Crocodilian Stationing: Incidental Benefits to a Basic Training Technique
- Crocodilian Tooth Replacement
- Crocodilians Drinking
- Pheromone Collection from Crocodilians
- Chinese Alligators
- Frozen Zoo
- Galloping Crocodilians
- Alligator CT Scan
- Crocodilians Eating Their Vegetables
- Crocodilians Swallowing Underwater
- Crocodiles as Parents
- Crocodiles Feeding Their Young
- Courtship Behavior of American Alligators
- Social Displays of the American Alligator
- Green screen
- Crocodilian Bite-force
- Endoscopy of Crocodilians
- Mummy Crocodiles
- MYTH-BUSTERS