At the University of Miami, out-of-state students arrive on campus each fall and get their first glimpses of one of the most quintessential images of Floridian wildlife: the American Crocodile.

The university’s Lake Osceola is home to two crocodiles; one five feet in length, and the other, six to eight feet in length. The reptiles are an attraction of their own; entertaining students such as Mackenzie Ann Green, a sophomore who named the two crocodiles “Winthrop” and “Winifred.”

But lately the two crocodiles have been making unusually bold appearances, including emerging out of the water, occasionally on pedestrian walkways. Last February, a crocodile took an evening stroll on a university sidewalk before engaging in a violent confrontation with another crocodile.

The University of Miami Police Department believes the crocodiles’ aggressive behavior is a result of their annual mating season, which begins in spring and continues until late May.

Crocodiles on university grounds fall under the jurisdiction of UMPD, which has taken measures to relocate them and keep larger ones out of Lake Osceola. Because the lake is connected to Biscayne Bay under U.S. 1, authorities have installed grating to keep crocodiles from entering campus, and fences have been built to corral them. Rocks have been laid down around the lake shore to prevent the crocodiles from climbing out of the water, where they could potentially be in close range to students.