JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Researchers at the University of North Florida are leading the charge in the study of alligators in big cities. The study called, Alligators in the big city: spatial ecology of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) at multiple scales across an urban landscape, was published in Scientific Reports Journal. Researchers at UNF spent a year studying and surveying alligators in 9 tributaries of the St. Johns River. Take, for example, last year when this video went viral of an alligator climbing a fence at NAS Jax. Another story went viral when hunters harvested another 12-foot gator, this one weighing more than 600 pounds.