Plumbers Used Alligators to Open Clogged Pipes, 1938

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Alligators kept as specimens at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries aquarium in Washington, D.C, were being tried out as plumber’s assistants to open up clogged pipes in 1938. Placed in a length of pipe that was stopped up with silt and sediment, the reptile dug his way through, opening up a small hole which water later would widen by its pressure as it swept through.

An aquarium official shows how gators clean pipes.