A wildlife biologist recently found a massive alligator in a Sumter County irrigation ditch.
The 700-pound gator, which measured 13 feet, 4 inches in length, set social media on fire, partly because some people thought it was a hoax.
But Brent Howze, the biologist who encountered the creature, confirmed it was the real deal. The Georgia Department of Natural Resource estimated the gator was about 50 years old. Because of its poor condition, DNR euthanized the animal.
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Believe it or not, that's not the biggest gator ever found in the state, according to DNR spokeswoman Sarah Hanson. She told USA Today that the largest alligator, with a length of 14 feet, 1 inch, was discovered in 2015.
Hunters also bagged a couple of huge gators in September 2010. An 11-foot, 800-pound animal was captured and killed in the Chattahoochee River near Fort Benning, and four days later a 13-foot, 9-inch alligator weighing 680 pounds was killed.
But alligators aren’t the only huge creatures uncovered in Georgia’s waters.
In 2009, while fishing in the Ocmulgee River, Tom Head reeled in a 103-pound flathead catfish. The fish was nearly 5 feet long (57 inches) and more than 41 inches around. Even though it was much larger than the record-holding catch (83 pounds), it didn't qualify as a record catch because Head used the "jug fishing" method, which attracts fish using a line and jug. DNR only recognizes anglers using sporting tackle for their catches for its stats.
Richard Barrett caught the record blue catfish, which weighed 93 pounds even, in 2017, while fishing in south Georgia's Altamaha River. It's the largest freshwater fish officially caught in Georgia, DNR states.
Although massively impressive, there isn’t anything weird about an alligator or catfish.
But what about a hogzilla? In 2004, a photo of Chris Griffin and the massive hog he killed at River Oaks Plantation stirred speculation of a hoax. The swine was rumored to be 12 feet long and weighing about 1,000 pounds. The AJC's Actual Factual Georgia reported in 2014, however, that once the hog's remains were exhumed, it was determined to be about 800 pounds and 8 feet long.
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Another strange creature that fueled speculation of a hoax was photographed near Darien in March 2018.
A man named Jeff Warren said he and his son found the strange creature on the beach at Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge. He sent the photo to media outlets. While some said it was a hoax, others thought he'd found the legendary Altamaha-ha, Georgia's version of the Loch Ness monster. Scientists, however, had a more plausible explanation.
Tara Cox, associate professor of marine sciences at Savannah State University, suggested it was a basking shark.
"I did some digging, and yes, a basking shark looks surprisingly like a mythological/prehistoric sea serpent when it decomposes," she told the Savannah Morning News in an email.
Not everyone was convinced, the paper reported. The consensus at Georgia Southern University was that it was a hoax.
Biology professor Ray Chandler andJohn "Crawfish" Crawford thought so. "After examining the photo (Crawford) was convinced it was a model, maybe made of clay and maybe with chicken guts for entrails. The photo looked a lot like the Wikipedia entry for the Altamaha-ha, he said. And Crawford knows that some fishermen friends have pulled practical jokes in the past to get media attention for the Altamaha-ha legend," the paper reported.
“Whoever did it did a good job,” Crawford told the paper. “I’m sure it’s another saga in the Altamaha-ha thing.”
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