the investigators begin by observing the
alligators behavior for themselves
we noticed alligators that showed poor
equilibrium in other words they were
they had a hard time riding themselves
in the water they listed to one side or
another some of them had trouble keeping
their heads above water there was some
speculation that they were eventually
drowning because they could not keep
their heads above water the scientists
are mystified as to what could cause
this amphibious creature to drown
alligators spend their lives in and
around water it’s their lifeblood they
die without it they use it as a
sanctuary to keep cool to mate to hunt
they can remain submerged for two hours
but the zombie Gators are struggling
even to swim they float listlessly in
the water
or lie motionless on the bank the first
thing you notice is that they were
unresponsive often you thought the
alligator was dead on the shoreline only
sporadic twitches give away that they’re
still alive
alligator behavior like this has never
been seen before this top predator is no
longer able to move let alone kill it
was a strange they look like they were
drugged almost there are no external
signs of injury no obvious clues so a
team of pathologists go to work on the
bodies
that’s at the beginning in any case like
this where we don’t know what’s going on
we start with a complete examination we
leave no stone unturned so really we
were examining this animal from from
snout to tail the dissection is done
systematically starting with the skin we
move internally into the internal organs
of the animal we’re taking pieces and
parts of everything that animal can give
us by examining the inside of the animal
dr. Scott Terrell hopes to find a clue
as to the cause of death but Terrell
isn’t sure exactly what he’s looking for
we’re taking diagnostic samples from
heart lung liver kidney intestinal
contents we’re dividing those tissues up
into a variety of different containers
so that we can test them for viruses
bacteria toxins pesticides and from
there we can try to make a diagnosis
Terral examines the corpses meticulously
but in every animal the organs appear to
be healthy despite his best efforts
there is still no obvious indication why
these animals have died we were seeing
where adult healthy animals with not
much we couldn’t see much when we were
doing a post-mortem exam a lot of the
initial tests were coming back negative
we weren’t finding consistent bacterial
infections we didn’t find any evidence
of a virus we weren’t finding much sure
enough none of the tests are positive
none of the organs seemed diseased the
immune system is uncompromised and
Terrell finds no signs of trauma or
foreign bodies the corpses are telling
them nothing the investigators can see
only one of the course of action they
are going to have to get an affected
animal before it dies they are going to
have to go hunting for zombie alligators
alligators behavior for themselves
we noticed alligators that showed poor
equilibrium in other words they were
they had a hard time riding themselves
in the water they listed to one side or
another some of them had trouble keeping
their heads above water there was some
speculation that they were eventually
drowning because they could not keep
their heads above water the scientists
are mystified as to what could cause
this amphibious creature to drown
alligators spend their lives in and
around water it’s their lifeblood they
die without it they use it as a
sanctuary to keep cool to mate to hunt
they can remain submerged for two hours
but the zombie Gators are struggling
even to swim they float listlessly in
the water
or lie motionless on the bank the first
thing you notice is that they were
unresponsive often you thought the
alligator was dead on the shoreline only
sporadic twitches give away that they’re
still alive
alligator behavior like this has never
been seen before this top predator is no
longer able to move let alone kill it
was a strange they look like they were
drugged almost there are no external
signs of injury no obvious clues so a
team of pathologists go to work on the
bodies
that’s at the beginning in any case like
this where we don’t know what’s going on
we start with a complete examination we
leave no stone unturned so really we
were examining this animal from from
snout to tail the dissection is done
systematically starting with the skin we
move internally into the internal organs
of the animal we’re taking pieces and
parts of everything that animal can give
us by examining the inside of the animal
dr. Scott Terrell hopes to find a clue
as to the cause of death but Terrell
isn’t sure exactly what he’s looking for
we’re taking diagnostic samples from
heart lung liver kidney intestinal
contents we’re dividing those tissues up
into a variety of different containers
so that we can test them for viruses
bacteria toxins pesticides and from
there we can try to make a diagnosis
Terral examines the corpses meticulously
but in every animal the organs appear to
be healthy despite his best efforts
there is still no obvious indication why
these animals have died we were seeing
where adult healthy animals with not
much we couldn’t see much when we were
doing a post-mortem exam a lot of the
initial tests were coming back negative
we weren’t finding consistent bacterial
infections we didn’t find any evidence
of a virus we weren’t finding much sure
enough none of the tests are positive
none of the organs seemed diseased the
immune system is uncompromised and
Terrell finds no signs of trauma or
foreign bodies the corpses are telling
them nothing the investigators can see
only one of the course of action they
are going to have to get an affected
animal before it dies they are going to
have to go hunting for zombie alligators
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