GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It was a big day at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine as zoological medicine residents strapped a 376-pound alligator to a table and began taking blood samples.
The alligator's name is Brooke, so named because he originally lived at the Brookfield Zoo before spending nearly 20 years at his current home, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. The park's reptile curator said that Brooke had recently been showing symptoms, including "intermittent head-rolling" in his lagoon habitat, so he was brought to UF to be examined and treated.
"Dr. Bridget Walker, a UF zoological medicine resident, performed a blood draw to obtain a sample for analysis, and Brooke received standard radiographs along with a CT scan during his stay here," university leaders wrote in a Facebook post.
GALLERY: Huge alligator gets a CT scan and medical treatment
As it turned out, Brooke was suffering from an ear infection.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park also posted on social media thanking the university's medical team and hailing their work as, "Gators taking care of Gators." The post also said Brooke's medical treatment was painless and stress-free.
"Brooke has years of experience coming to his name, accepting food (sometimes with medicine), and holding still. Some of our crocodilians are trained to remain still for blood draws without restraining them. So, however Brooke needs medical treatment, he will be able to receive it without any stress or worry," the post read in part.
Brooke is neither the first nor the biggest gator to be treated at the University of Florida. The College of Veterinary Medicine also made headlines when it successfully treated Bob, a 660-pound gator, for a leg injury.