An alligator’s brain wouldn’t even fill a tablespoon. But the little that’s there is very cunning.

To trick birds looking for materials to build their nest, alligators will balance sticks on their heads. And as the birds lower themselves to take the sticks, the alligator will open its jaws and eat them alive. Chomp!

But birds have their tricks, too. They build their nests in the trees overlooking the alligator hangout because it assures them that nest-raiding racoons and possums will stay away. But the big-jawed bodyguards expect to be paid. And this payment comes in the form of chicks that accidentally fall from their nest or because they’ve been pushed out by their parents as a form of birth control.

Yin yang.

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