In the USA, 70 coins were extracted from the stomach of an alligator (4 photos)
An alligator at the Omaha Zoo in Nebraska required emergency surgery late last week to remove dozens of coins from its stomach. 
According to information provided by the zoo, a total of 70 metal coins were found inside the 36-year-old alligator named Thibodeaux.
"To protect the animal and safely pass through the tools used to remove the coins, as well as the camera that helped us see these objects, a plastic tube was placed in the alligator's mouth," zoo veterinarian Christina Ploeg said in a statement. 
The coins were discovered during a routine examination of the animal. Later, all of them were successfully removed by specialists during the operation. Now the animal's life is not in danger.
Christina Plug believes that the metal money was probably planted in the alligator's enclosure by visitors.
"Zoo guests should not throw coins into the ponds intended for animals. You can throw a coin for luck into a special well located in the atrium," the institution said in a statement. 
There are 10 American alligators at the Omaha Zoo, and one of them is Thibodeau, a rare leucistic alligator with translucent white skin and dark blue eyes. Currently, only a few individuals of such alligators are known in the world.
Alligators are of great interest to people, both in zoos and in the wild. But despite their menacing reputation, and the fact that the southeastern United States is home to a multimillion-dollar population of alligators, attacks on humans are quite rare. And deaths from these attacks are even rarer. 
