Somerville's 'gator guy' is a social media star. Here's why he's walking away

Somerville's Seth Kaplan boasts nearly 700,000 followers on his novelty X account "Gators Daily." But after more than five years of running the crocodlian-centric account, Kaplan announced last month that he's calling it quits.

He joined WBUR's Morning Edition to explain why and talk about his lifelong appreciation of gators.

Below are highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited.

On why he picked gators in the first place:

“Everyone kind of has their own favorite off-the-beaten-path favorite animal. And for me, that was alligators. I actually have a picture of myself on my first day of kindergarten, getting on the bus with a shirt that has a massive alligator on it that my dad likes to send me from time to time.

“So one of the reasons I created this account was I really wanted to bring alligators up to that niche, favorite animal category. They don't have the same mannerisms that a panda or even a rat or possum might have, where it's kind of cute and cuddly and fun. They're just violent apex predators. They've been the same for almost 100 million years. I think putting that cutesy, fun voice in front of them really was what made it so fun and what drew people to it.”

On the account’s popularity:

“This account really started taking off in March of 2020. I remember I was on a plane, and my phone was getting so many notifications that I had to turn off notifications on Twitter for the first time in my life, because it was just scrolling and scrolling.

“I do hope that more people can just have an appreciation for these creatures and how long they've been around. They're my favorite, and they'll always be my favorite.”

On why he’s walking away from the account:

“I felt like this became almost too much of my brand. I'd meet people and they would say, like, ‘Oh, you're the gator guy.’ My mantra for this whole kind of stepping away, as funny as it sounds, is I'd love to go back to being just Seth, and not necessarily ‘the gator guy.’

“It does sound just so funny to say, because it's just a Twitter account that posts about alligators, but I think I still don't really comprehend the scale of my reach. When I announced my ‘retirement,’ I had thousands of people commenting and sending me messages [about] how much this account meant to them and their friends and keeping them together during COVID. I even opened a PO box, because so many people wanted to send me letters. Somebody sent me one of those grabbers that you can get that's like an alligator mouth. I still have a hard time really comprehending what I've created.”

On the gator-related adventures he still wants to pursue:

“I really want to go to Australia and see the massive saltwater crocodiles that they have there, the biggest crocodilians in the world. They take down small great white sharks and all sorts of stuff in the ocean. They can get 20 to 21 feet long.

“I'd love to go to India and Bangladesh. In the U.S., we've only got two: we've got the American crocodile and the American alligator. And that is just a small portion of crocodilians all around the world. So I don't know if I'd be able to see every single one, but I'd definitely love to check some off my bucket list. And when I am planning places to travel, I definitely add into consideration, you know, ‘Is there a crocodilian that I can see on the way?’ “

On the fact that crocodilians have survived for millions of years with little evolutionary change:

“I don't know if this is scientific, but I would say that it's because they're perfect, and there's nothing that needs to be changed.”