Where do Sea Pines alligators go? Researchers are tagging them to find out

Now that the weather is warming up, Lowcountry alligators tend to venture out — and they're looking for love.

Sea Pines alligators are among them, but found their search for a mate interrupted Tuesday by researchers.

Clemson University, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Nemours Wildlife Foundation of Yemassee are studying alligators in coastal South Carolina communities to better understand their movement patterns and behavior.

A team spent Tuesday in Sea Pines capturing alligators and fitting them with a GPS tracking device before releasing them.

Three adult male alligators were captured in the morning and early afternoon. All three now wear light purple tags on their necks and tails, but only two were large enough to fit with a GPS tracker.

The battery-powered device will record the location of the alligator every three hours for the next two years, according to a flier for the project. If you see a tagged alligator, you can report it online as part of the study.

Ernie Wiggers, the president and CEO of Nemours, said Monday there haven't been studies of the habits of alligators in residential communities. This project, he said, will help people better plan and manage communities where alligators live.

By better understanding the reptiles, humans can better coexist with them, he said.

"They have adapted to areas where humans occur in larger numbers," Wiggers said. "This will help us better understand how they move around and when they move around."

According to a flier, this research will also help to "minimize interactions between humans and alligators to keep both residents and our ecosystems safe."

The team of researchers estimate the first alligator of the day, caught on the bank of Lake Joe, was more than 11 feet long, weighed more than 250 pounds and was at least 37 years old.

The second was caught in a lagoon in the South Live Oak area, but was too small for a device. Still, it was more than eight feet long, weighed between 75 and 100 pounds and was approximately 17 years old.

The third alligator was also caught in the South Live Oak area. It was about nine feet long, weighed about 165 pounds and is estimated to be 30 years or older.

As part of the study, four adult males and two adult females will be fitted with a tracker in Sea Pines.

David Henderson, director of special projects and operations for Sea Pines, said the community volunteered to take part in the research.

He said residents will be updated as information from the study becomes available. He hopes the research will allow Sea Pines to educate residents, while also helping the community better understand the habits of the gators living among them.

This research might, for example, help the community understand why gators prefer one area over another, which would then allow the community to build areas that either encourage — or discourage — gators from making it their home, Henderson said.

Sea Pines is not the only community being studied.

Wiggers said Kiawah, Fripp, and Spring islands are also part of the research project.

According to the project's flier, members of the research team may be working in these communities until 2022.

This story was originally published April 24, 2018 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Where do Sea Pines alligators go? Researchers are tagging them to find out."