A beast resides deep in the bowels of McCollum Science Hall.

This fearsome creature - with teeth that shred and claws that clatter - lurks in a corner of a laboratory behind a formidable gate marked with a sign that warns “enter at your own risk.” 

And this menacing monster’s name is...Steve, an American alligator, who, contrary to his appearance - almost five feet long with black and yellow banding across his boney scales - is harmless.

“He’s not mean in any way. He's pretty well tamed,” said Jeff Tamplin, a biology professor and Steve’s official caretaker. “He's only ever really known this existence, and he's used to a lot of people coming around.”

Since arriving on campus in 2005 as an 8-inch baby, Steve has become the unofficial mascot of the biology department. Over the years, the crocodilian with a love of carp and baby pools has offered a joyful learning opportunity to countless UNI students, not to mention the elementary classes, alumni and Girl Scout and Boy Scouts troops who have visited him over the years.

“Steve is definitely the most popular non-human member of the department,” said Theresa Spradling, department head of biology. “Nearly every day, Jeff will have someone who stops in saying, ‘Hi, can I see the big alligator?’”

In short, Steve has made the exact impact former biology department head Barbara Hetrick was hoping for when she approached Tamplin with an unusual request over a decade ago.

An animal to make a splash

Hetrick saw an imbalance in the biology department. With a vibrant greenhouse filled with exotic plants on campus already engaging students, Hetrick wanted something similar from the zoology side of the field.

So, she approached the only man for the job - Tamplin, who arrived at UNI in 2001. Prior to that, he taught at Louisiana State University for 15 years, where he raised and released alligators his students found in flooded yards. He even worked as a reptile consultant on several movies, including the 1997 Robert Duvall drama “The Apostle,” where his job was to stand in swamp water just off camera to keep any snakes or alligators away from Duvall.

“So when Barbara came and said ‘can you get an animal to make a big splash?’ I said, ‘let’s get an alligator,’” Tamplin said.

Hetrick loved the idea, and Tamplin tracked down a licensed breeder in Ohio. A couple days and $125 later, Steve arrived.

“The gator was part of a major effort to make biology real for our students,” Hetrick said. “We simply did everything we could to capture and engage our students.”

It’s safe to say Hetrick’s mission was accomplished.

“People seem to remember Steve for a long time after they leave UNI, because visiting alumni often set aside a little time to come in and check on him,” Spradling said. “And it is a popular place to take our prospective students and families when they visit the department, because they can see the alligator, plus they can also see active, ongoing research projects playing out in the lab.”