NAPLES, Fla. — It’s Florida’s story in a nutshell at a nature center in Naples.

What You Need To Know • The Susan and William Dalton Discovery Center • Conservancy of Southwest Florida • 1495 Smith Preserve Way, Naples • Tues. - Sat.: 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

And educator Tyler Byrd is leading the tour at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples.

He’s also friends with swamp resident American alligator Kermit — friends through glass, that is.

Trainers show Kermit’s food motivated intelligence. The two-and-a-half-year-old will touch a red dot on a stick with his nose to get a meat treat.

“They are not looking to eat people but if people start to feed them, and give them food, then just like little Kermit, they’re going to learn that we mean an easy meal,” said Byrd.

Don’t feed

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