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Record-Setting Alligator Makes Its Public Debut

From right, John Stokes and his wife Mandy Stokes and their niece Savannah Jenkins, 17, and nephew Parker Jenkins, 15, with their father, Kevin Jenkins, stand behind their world record American alligator on display at the Mann Museum in Montgomery, Ala., Friday, May 22, 2015. Mandy Stokes killed the alligator last August while hunting with relatives on the Alabama River near Camden in Wilcox County.
Albert Cesare/The Montgomery Advertiser/AP Photo

May 23, 2015, 4:17 PM

 -- The alligator that set a world record was ready for its close-up.

The Stokes alligator, which measures 15 feet and 9 inches, was unveiled Friday in its full-body mount at the Mann Wildlife Learning Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, Al.com reports. It eclipsed the previous mark set by Keith Fancher's 14-foot, 2-inch, 838-pound find.

The creature -- which weighed more than 1,000 pounds -- was caught on August 14, 2014, from Mill Creek by Mandy Stokes, her husband John Stokes, brother-in-law Kevin Jenkins and his children Savannah and Parker. The gator's age at the time of death was between 24 and 28 years old, based on the analysis of a leg bone.

Of the work performed on the alligator for the mount by taxidermist Ken Owens, Mandy Stokes told AL.com: "I think it's awesome. I knew it was going to be good, but this is amazing."

Reptilian biologist Dr. Kent Vliet told AL.com that the creature might have been the oldest living gator, or that it might have been born large and grew bigger during its lifetime.