Meet Shelby, a nine-year-old girl who lives in Louisiana. Her life is pretty normal… except she lives with alligators! Her father runs an alligator farm, and there are also wild alligators roaming around her yard. She spoke with Andrew Evans, National Geographic’s Digital Nomad, to talk about what it’s like living around gators.

 
Shelby helps her dad with the gators when they hatch. She holds the baby alligators when they come out of their shells. “Holding a baby alligator is like holding a baby dinosaur,” she says. Is Shelby scared by being around alligators all the time? Nope! She told Andrew that as long as you don’t tease them, they won’t hurt you.

Watch a video about “Gator Girl” on Andrew’s Digital Nomad blog.

Get the facts on alligators in the Creature Feature.

Photographs by Andrew Evans