CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago’s favorite reptile is growing up and giving back.
Chance the Snapper, an American alligator who became a citywide sensation in the summer of 2019 when he was spotted swimming in Humboldt Park’s lagoon, is now assisting in cancer research at the University’s Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology of Louisville.
Frank Robb, the alligator expert who caught Chance after evading Chicago Animal Care and Control teams of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police for days, said the Wise Lab is studying how chemicals in the environment cause cancer.
“They’re doing some pretty amazing things,” Robb said.
One study examines DNA damage in alligators from chemicals in the environment to better understand the threats to humans.
“Alligators have the same endocrine system and reproductive hormones as we do,” Robb said. “Alligators are very good at treating these things, preventing cancer and repairing chromosomes. So we’re trying to figure all this out.”
Robb also said that Chance is strengthening. He was about four feet tall when he was caught in the Humboldt Park Lagoon. Five years later, he is now over 7 feet long, weighs 140 pounds and is reportedly “the biggest and baddest” alligator in his new home at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida.
