# are alligators smart **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-alligators-smart/654057 "2013-03-26T23:43:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-alligators-smart/654057/82 "2016-03-22T13:34:15Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Having an alligator for a pet? Tame stuff. > > For real excitement, [try domesticating a hyena](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1312606/Rescued-hyena-Odi-enjoys-better-good-bath.html) (based on the reputation of these animals, the accompanying photos will make your hair stand on end). Hair-raising indeed. Quite a grin, there, surely rivaling an alligator. I just glanced at the article, but I caught the words, (paraphrasing here) “We just make sure it knows I’m the dominant male and that my girlfriend is the dominant female. It’s incorporated in our social structure.” I’ve heard \*\*that \*\*said before, and it always seems that there is no problem, … until there is a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-alligators-smart/654057/83 "2016-03-22T14:39:46Z")
That is still better than a pet hippo. Those don’t work out that well. > **[Farmer gouged to death by pet hippo Humphrey who was 'like a son to him'](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061286/Farmer-Marius-Els-gouged-death-pet-hippo-Humphrey-like-son.html)** > > Marius Els raised Humphrey the hippo from the age of five months and once described him as 'just like a human'. But the 1,200kg bull hippo turned on Mr Els, 41, and killed him on his farm in South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-alligators-smart/654057/84 "2016-03-22T15:01:24Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > snip > > The only recent case that I know of was in East Texas not that far from the Louisiana border and it did make the national news. It takes a really ambitious Darwin Award candidate to cause an alligator attack in the area but he found a way by combining several different advanced redneck wild animal taunting techniques. > > [Man mocks alligators, jumps in water and is killed in Texas](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/04/us/texas-alligator-attack/) > > “Although there have been numerous fatal alligator attacks in Florida, the Orange County attack may be the first of its kind in Texas.” > > snip Alligators clearly have no sense of humor. If it ain’t Florida, it’s Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-alligators-smart/654057/85 "2016-03-22T16:57:48Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > Alligators can learn certain basic behaviours and a small “vocabulary” of words. True, but a tip for the future - “teach him to eat out of your hand” is not the best place to begin. Regards, Lefty ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-alligators-smart/654057/87 "2019-06-24T03:59:10Z")
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