Angola: Alligator Kills Man in Cuima Commune


Angola Press Agency (Luanda)

17 October 2008
Posted to the web 20 October 2008

Caála

A 22-year old young man identified as Felipe and resident of Cuima commune, Caála district (central Huambo province), was on Wednesday attacked and killed by an alligator, ANGOP learnt this Friday.

The tragedy occurred whilst Felipe was fishing together with other five people in one of the rivers of the region when the alligator bit off a muscle of one of the legs.


In declarations to ANGOP this Friday, the administrator of Cuima, Faustino Copengola, lamented the fact and stressed that local administrative authorities will continue urging citizens to remain distant from rivers with alligators.

"The alligators cannot be killed, but strategies should be defined in order to guarantee the safety of the population since these animals are part of our ecological wealth and therefore citizens should be prudent and more aware", said Faustino Copengola.

Alligators ... Africa ... the Angola Press ... one might fairly expect those countries actually experiencing regular loss of human life to crocodiles would know the difference.

yep, long way from home that gator....

Wonder if Mr. Copengola has ever seen an 'alligator"?
Reminds me of Don Heath's editorial in this month's African Hunter, regarding the Peter Principal and the Parks Chief who had never seen a wild elephant or a tsetse fly.

last tome i checked, the southern US( THE ONLY PLACE WHERE ALLIGATORS ARE FOUND) is a long way from Angola.

I suppose the blame should be placed on the reporter who translated the news from Portuguese to english who doesnt know the difference between crocodile and alligator.

Good point Frikkadel.....

quote:

Originally posted by Safari-Hunt:
I suppose the blame should be placed on the reporter who translated the news from Portuguese to english who doesnt know the difference between crocodile and alligator.

This is most likely the case! I'm not fluent in Portuguese, but it is a Spanish derivative, and the word for ALLIGATOR in Spanish is "LAGARTO" literally meaning large lizard, and the word for what we call a lizard, is "LAGARTIJO" which literally means little lizard. I don't think their word is different from "LAGARTO" for the either the alligator, and crocodile. The terms are interchangeable.

My first reaction to the title if this thread was the same as most others till I thought about it being translated from Portuguese! I'd bet, however, it wasn't important to the man being killed by the BIG LIZARD!

Man! If you dumped one of our Gators off in the midst of those Nile Crocs, it would probably scare him so bad he would turn into two suitcases and a pair of Cowboy boots!

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:

quote:

Originally posted by Safari-Hunt:
I suppose the blame should be placed on the reporter who translated the news from Portuguese to english who doesnt know the difference between crocodile and alligator.

This is most likely the case! I'm not fluent in Portuguese, but it is a Spanish derivative, and the word for ALLIGATOR in Spanish is "LAGARTO" literally meaning large lizard, and the word for what we call a lizard, is "LAGARTIJO" which literally means little lizard. I don't think their word is different from "LAGARTO" for the either the alligator, and crocodile. The terms are interchangeable.

Mac,

That you aren’t fluent in Portuguese, that is obvious! And neither are you fluent in Spanish (so it seems)! And you are also wrong about Portuguese being a Spanish derivative: both languages share the same common root (Romanic-Latin) together with several other European languages (French, Italian, Catalan,..)

English – Alligator
Portuguese – Aligátor
Spanish – Aligator, aligador, lagarto de Indias

English – Lizard
Portuguese – Lagarto
Spanish - Lagarto

English – Small lizard
Portuguese – Lagarticha
Spanish - Lagartija

English – Crocodile
Portuguese- Crocodilo
Spanish – Cocodrilo

B.Martins

quote:

Originally posted by b.martins:

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:

quote:

Originally posted by Safari-Hunt:
I suppose the blame should be placed on the reporter who translated the news from Portuguese to english who doesnt know the difference between crocodile and alligator.

This is most likely the case! I'm not fluent in Portuguese, but it is a Spanish derivative, and the word for ALLIGATOR in Spanish is "LAGARTO" literally meaning large lizard, and the word for what we call a lizard, is "LAGARTIJO" which literally means little lizard. I don't think their word is different from "LAGARTO" for the either the alligator, and crocodile. The terms are interchangeable.

Mac,

That you aren’t fluent in Portuguese, that is obvious! And neither are you fluent in Spanish (so it seems)! And you are also wrong about Portuguese being a Spanish derivative: both languages share the same common root (Romanic-Latin) together with several other European languages (French, Italian, Catalan,..)

English – Alligator
Portuguese – Aligátor
Spanish – Aligator, aligador, lagarto de Indias

English – Lizard
Portuguese – Lagarto
Spanish - Lagarto

English – Small lizard
Portuguese – Lagarticha
Spanish - Lagartija

English – Crocodile
Portuguese- Crocodilo
Spanish – Cocodrilo

B.Martins

B.Martins, I'm not even "FLUENT" in English, much less Spanish, and certainly not Portugese!

I'm sure, considering the fact that you are from Portugal, that what you are quoting is Spanish as spoken in Spain, which also has it's slang dialects, depending on where you are in that country. I'm certain you are correct in your tanslation for European Spanish. However, I predict if you stay long on the border of Texas, and Mexico, you will find may words you will not translate well. That border is 1000 miles long,in Texas, and one end of it the slang is entirely different from that of the other end, and none of it is Castilian Spanish.

There are many Islands in the Caribbean who say their language is Portuguese, but I'd bet my next retirement check it wouldn't match what you speak in Portugal. It will be a mixture of English, Spanish, and PuertoRican! The word fluent is something nobody has in any language, in all parts of the world where different dialects are spoken.

What I speak is Mexican border spanish,from the Western half of the Texas,and the borders of New Mexico, and Arizona's borders with Mexico. The words I listed are correct for this part of the world. I suspect that the translation given in the article is the reason for the "Alligator" being listed for the animal that killed the man there!

Thanks for the lesson in Spanish, However!

quote:

the southern US( THE ONLY PLACE WHERE ALLIGATORS ARE FOUND)

No, there is also the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis), but that's a long ways from Angola too.