Saturn the Alligator.

Did you know that:

- Saturn the alligator was hatched in Mississippi in 1936, and was soon taken to the Berlin Zoological Garden.
- Here he was was a popular exhibit, and was probably viewed by Hitler, although he was never owned by the dictator.
- The zoo was bombed, and Saturn probably saw his mates blown up. Later in Russia loud machinery gave Saturn PTSD: "When Russian tanks were moving down the Garden Ring during the 1993 constitutional crisis, Saturn cried out because of the vibrations, which a zookeeper thought reminded him of the Battle of Berlin".
en.wikipedia.org...(alligator)
- He became a much beloved exhibit of the Moscow zoo, despite initial hostility.
- He once had alligator girlfriends, and mourned them very deeply (he refused to eat, sometimes for a year).
- He died aged 84, much older than alligators generally do on 22 May 2020.

One life I guess we'll never see in the Hollywood limelight.
But, see you later alligator.

A documentary (even if somewhat badly titled):



The American alligator who went to Germany, given to the Russians by the British, and he survived two totalitarian regimes: "Born in America, raised in Germany ... Saturn's life was extraordinary".

Not bad for an alligator.

a reply to: halfoldman

He has been to and seen so many countries he could be a NaviGator.

Present to the alligator.

Living it up while you're going down.

With today's idiotic youth he might be Racist.
So ban him, wipe out his history.


This little guy has seen & heard the horrors of man.
RIP little fella.

Thinking of Saturn and his beloved Shipka:

In the 1950s, the United States gave the Soviet Union a younger, female alligator as a gift. She was named Shipka, and she and Saturn began mating, but they did not produce any offspring as all of Shipka’s eggs were infertile. Shipka, who was thirteen years younger than Saturn, later died, and Saturn was so distressed by her death that he refused food for a time. By 2005, Saturn had a new mate, who was then thirty years old.

en.wikipedia.org...(alligator)

Oh the wistful fates of man and beast.
But I will keep a stiff upper lip, and won't unravel into crocodile tears at the thought.

This is when you need the Norwegians.or Scotts. They honor their penguins and animals who live extraordinary lives.