GAINESVILLE—Dan Sharp, left, animal science professor with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, with graduate students Mark Gunderson and Stefan Kools, observe as Louis Guillette, professor in the UF Department of Zoology, operates on a male alligator.

The 11-foot animal was pulled from Lake Woodruff near Ocala National Forest so his tissues could be harvested and used for research. Guillette said the tissues and blood samples would be shared among several university departments and with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate the need to take other alligators. Tissues from this healthy gator will provide a point of comparision with tissues from alligators in other Florida lakes, where the animals are suffering from long-term pesticide exposure.

0