Tahar Douis

Who is Tahar Douis?

Tahar Douis is a Moroccan wrestler of alligators known for hypnotizing them and putting his head inside their open jaws. He was born in the 1950s in Marrakech, 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 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 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 in Winchester, Nevada on the Las Vegas Strip.

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."