Swampy: World's Largest Alligator
Christmas, Florida
Swampy is big -- big enough to contain the gift shop, ticket counter and offices of Jungle Adventures, in the holiday season-themed town of Christmas, Florida. How long exactly is Swampy? "Pretty damn long!" an absentee manager's voice blares from the phone at the cashier's station, as employees scurry to protect their supremacy claim from a rival gator in Kissimmee.
One employee heads home for a tape measure, visibly worried about an incident when "the Channel 6 news van backed over the tail and crushed the last three or four feet."
Swampy was built in the 1980s as the home of Jungle Adventures founder Hermon Brooks. He'd planned to use Swampy's open mouth as the entrance to his attraction, which was then called Gator Jungle. But a lawsuit from nearby Gatorland, famous for its gator mouth entrance, foiled Hermon's plan. Ironically, a subsequent fire at Gatorland permanently disconnected its gator mouth from its gift shop, so now neither giant gator mouth is used as an entrance.
Back to Swampy: a Jungle Adventures team runs the tape down its full length, digging down around the shells at the tip of the tail. Channel 6 damage is negligible. Total length: 200 feet, 1 inch!
Behind Swampy, the 10-acre Jungle Adventures park offers a tour of a Native Village, electric boat rides and boardwalks through the swamp, and a home for injured or thrown-away exotic pets as well as hundreds of alligators. The gift shop sells frozen alligator meat for your barbecuing pleasure, and visitors can pet a tarantula.