… of L.A.'s budget — $180,000 — went to Reggie-related expenses. What Reggie makes of his unusual life story is a mystery. An alligator brain is the size of a peanut. A GATOR EMERGES Lake Machado today is the attractive center of Ken Malloy … a piece of his territory. Reggie the Alligator in his enclosure at the L.A. Zoo in May 2022. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) It was August, and the coldblooded animal's energy was at its peak. When Reggie came to a chain-link fence more than 4 … for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing on science and human behavior has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Time Magazine, the BBC, Quartz and elsewhere. Before joining The Times, she worked as the senior London correspondent for …