How does Jawlene, who lost her top jaw, do gator stuff? We asked

It made international headlines recently when a little alligator with no upper jaw was brought to the Gatorland nature park in Orlando.

Then the questions poured in. She’s estimated to be about 4 years old. How did she survive this long? How does she eat? How did she get this injury? Is there a prosthesis in her future, like Winter the dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium who got a plastic tail and became a movie star?

The half-snouted namesake of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” was first spotted by a hiker in the swamps of Sanford, between Daytona Beach and Orlando. A trapper eventually found the juvenile gator and brought her to Gatorland in Orlando.

Gatorland is a kitschy old-school Florida roadside attraction, which has at its heart a mission to love the unlovable. It is home to more than 125 alligators. Tourists can buy turkey dogs to feed them by hand — please don’t to that in the wild, though. Their live show pokes fun at rednecks while hanging raw chickens out for the gators to fight over in a spectacle.

We talked to her caretaker, Savannah Boan, and found out this gator has quite a personality. She even snapped at the vet who first visited her. Or rather, she tried to snap at him because she seems oblivious to her lack of an upper jaw, Boan said. She’s still a gator, after all.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

How do you think Jawlene survived long enough for you to rescue her?

Boan: Based on...