Life in the Everyglades

((PKG)) EVERGLADES ((TRT: 05:01)) ((Topic Banner: Life in the Everglades))  ((Reporter/Camera: Jeff Swicord)) ((Map: Everglades, Florida)) ((Main character: 1 Male))   ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) I’ve been around the Everglades my entire life. My father used to drive airboats with a couple of his buddies back in the 60s, 70s, 80s. He used to take me bass fishing all the time. Go out there, spot alligators. Started running tours seven years ago. Started my business three years ago. Definitely a blessing to be out here. It’s a very, very beautiful place at the end of the day, holds a special place in my heart.  ((NATS)) ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) A lot of people actually think the Florida Everglades is, you know, marsh, wetlands which it is. But it’s actually the world’s slowest moving river. Even when Native Americans lived out here, it was also named ‘The River of Grass’ because the sawgrass on the outside area dominates the majority of the area on the marsh. There are certain sloughs out here in the Everglades that can be a little bit deeper than the prairies and the outside area and the water only moves about a 100 foot [30 m] throughout the entire day. ((NATS: Maurice Cullen)) Morning! ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) So, the majority of our vegetation around us, this is all lily pads out here. And green and red lily pads that we are sitting in right now, and the yellow flowers, all grow off of the same root system. The purple one to the left-hand side, that is pickerel weed, also known as purple water garden lily. It sticks about a foot and a half [45 cm] above the water surface out here.  Fruit-bearing tree right here. Pond apple tree, also referred to as an alligator apple tree. And once the apples do fall off the tree, the vibration they produce do draw curiosity on alligators. Certain alligators will actually go by and eat it, see if it’s something they are interested in eating.  ((NATS: Calling Alligator)) ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) Alligator. He’s actually a pretty good-size-guy. That gator would be every bit of 11 foot [3.35 m], if not a little bit bigger. Have tons of vibration sensors all across the front and sides of their face which act very similar to a metal detector for us, more or less. So, at night, when you can’t see your hand in front of your face, it being that dark out in the Everglades, it’s what makes them the exceptional predator they are. He can sit dead still in the water, pick up on any vibration from a fish swimming by, turtle going by, bird wading in the water, doesn’t really matter. Once he locks in on that vibration, makes a beeline towards it. Those animals never know what was coming.  ((NATS: Maurice Cullen)) Oh, look. He got a pond apple, actually got one. ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) And alligators, man, they have tremendous biting pressure. There has been some record that a large male could have close to 3,000 pounds [1360 kgf/cm2] anywhere. So, to give you guys the idea that us, human beings, full grown adults, push out a 175 pounds [79 kg/cm2] of biting pressure. Alligators are actually more afraid of us, humans, than we are of them. But if you all ever see an alligator with its mouth open, just don’t put your hand inside it.  ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) In the Everglades, everything plays a big role, whether if a species of fish disappears, birds in general. The purple gallinule is the more exotic one. Consider it like a swamp hen or a swamp chicken due to some of their features. Their feet to bodyweight ratio are kind of perfect to the point that this bird can pretty much run right across all the vegetation, the lily pads, barely have to fly or swim. The feet on them are identical to chickens, beaks very similar to chickens.  So, and the one that is behind the purple gallinule, is one of their juveniles that is about two months right now. And it’s pretty cool because the purple gallinules will have two nests in a year. They double clutch all the time. Six to eight eggs per laying. Six has been the magic number this year.  ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) I started running airboat tours and this felt like it was always my calling. I feel like I am one with nature. I meet a lot of people, communicate with everybody on different levels, know the ins and outs of airboats. Just like a white meadow that would be surrounding us out here.  ((Maurice Cullen, Owner, Everglades Airboat Expeditions)) Know a lot about the wildlife at the end of the day and all the animals out here and vegetation and water and the Everglades has always fascinated me.  It just began time. It was always an encouragement for me to start my own business. And it’s been a blessing. The Everglades is my home. ((NATS))