?He loves a rub under his chin?: Nelson the 120kg alligator is just a gentle giant, says

?He loves a rub under his chin?: Nelson the 120kg alligator is just a gentle giant, says

Mangalore Today News Network

He might weigh 120kg with fangs sharp enough to serrate limbs, but this lethal alligator is nothing but gentle, his brave keeper insists.

Nelson, the 10ft long alligator, loves nothing more than to swim around his pit and have his chin rubbed by wildlife enthusiast Stuart Parker, and has so far resisted the temptation to bite.

Mr Parker now runs the Ballarat Wildlife Park in Victoria, Australia, after becoming fascinated with reptiles at the young age of six – when a baby gator whipped his hand with its tale and bit his chest.

Gentle giant: Nelson the 120kg alligator loves a little chin rub by his keeper Stuart Parker at Ballarat Wildlife Park in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

 

Easy tiger... I mean alligator: Nelson leaps onto Stuart for a hug but is a little too heavy to be play fighting with the keeper

He was not injured by the incident and instead of fearing the creatures, he grew to love them and has followed in his grandparents footsteps – who originally established the wildlife park.

Mr Parker told Adelaidenow.com.au: ‘You can work really closely with the alligators because of their gentle natures. They even let you rub them under the chin.

 

Tearaway teenager: Nelson is 17-years-old and almost 10 feet long

After spending years training the animals to tolerate humans, Mr Parker added that people shouldn’t have the view that gators are emotionless just because they’re cold blooded,

‘Among their own social circles, they show a lot of affection and attention to each other.

‘If a male is wooing a female he swims under to blow bubbles around her and will nuzzle and massage her neck and back with his snout.’

Although 17-year-old Nelson sounds heavy at 120kg, the largest salt water crocodile that the wildlife centre is home to is around 295kg.