Tahar Douis is a Moroccan wrestler of

alligators An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae in the order Crocodilia. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A ...

known for hypnotizing them and putting his head inside their open jaws. He was born in the 1950s in

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

, left home at age 6 to join a group of street performers, and later began performing for the London-based Circus Hasani at age 16. In the 1980s he was taught by Bob Tiger, a great third-generation

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

gator wrestler from the Florida Everglades. Previous to his career as an alligator wrestler, he was a snake charmer and circus strong man. As a strong man, he earned a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

in the 1970s by carrying 12 men weighing a total of 1,700 pounds on his shoulders, forming the world's heaviest human pyramid. In the late 1980s his alligator show was a star attraction in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as part of their "Safari Fantasy" themed shows. By the middle of the 1990s he was wrestling gators as part of the "Splash" show at the

Riviera () is an Italian word which means , ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria (the Genoa region in northwestern Italy) in the form , then shortened in English. Riviera may a ...

Winchester, Nevada Winchester is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States that contains part of the Las Vegas Strip. It is one of a number of CDPs in the unincorporated urbanized area directly south of Las ...

on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...

. Tahar is known by many names, including "The Moroccan Master", "The Alligator King", "Master of the Jaws of Death", and "Black Tarzan." Among the many gators he has wrestled in his career have been such scaly opponents as Jumpy, Bubba, and Suitcase. The venues he has wrestled his gators in have included the "Water Chamber of Doom." Tahar's striking good looks and clean-shaven head have drawn comparisons to the late

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...

as portrayed in the King of Siam. His broad-shouldered, muscular body has also been compared to that of a

Chippendales Chippendales is a touring dance troupe best known for its male striptease performances and for its dancers' distinctive upper body costume of a bow tie, collar, and shirt cuffs worn on an otherwise bare torso with jeans and undergarment. Est ...

dancer. A career wrestling gators has left several scars on his body, including one on his head from a match against the Jumpy, one of the meanest of Tahar's alligators who hisses like a snake. Tahar has a warning for others regarding the extreme dangers of gator wrestling; "If your mind is not with the alligator, that's the time he can get you ... When he bites, he won't let go until he gets what he wants. Then the animal starts to twist and nothing can stop him — except death."Smith, Sharon. ''Lord of the Ring; Charming prince has a way with gators'', The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 5, 1988. When not on tour with his alligators, Tahar lives on a ranch in Texas with over fifty alligators, his wife and two daughters.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douis, Tahar 1950s births Living people People from Marrakesh 21st-century circus performers Circus strongmen and strongwomen Year of birth missing (living people)