Rio 2016 Olympic Golf Course Planners Say Alligators Won’t Bite
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Organizers of the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years say there is little risk of alligator-like creatures slithering onto fairways or greens during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
As many as 6,000 caimans, members of the alligator family, live in sewage-infested lagoons around western Rio, and some have moved into water features built as part of Gil Hanse’s design for Brazil’s first public golf course. The reptiles, much smaller and more docile than crocodiles, are not considered a risk to people, though encroachment on their habitat has meant contact with humans is increasing.