Alligators

Description

An average adult American alligator's weight and length is 790 lb and 13.1 ft, but they sometimes grow to 14 ft long and weigh over 990 lb. The largest American alligator was 19.2 ft. The Chinese alligator is smaller, rarely growing more than 6.9 ft in length. It weighs less, with males rarely over 45 kg.

The life span of an alligator is not yet measured. In 1937, a one year old alligator was taken to the Belgrade Zoo in Serbia from Germany. It is now 76 years old. It  is considered the oldest alligator living in captivity.

Habitat

Alligators are native to the United States of America and China.

American alligators are found in all of Florida and Louisiana, the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, coastal South and North Carolina, east Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma, and the southern tip of Arkansas. The majority of American alligators live in Florida and Louisiana. American alligators live in fresh water environments, such as ponds, marshes,wetlands, rivers, lakes, and swamps.

The Chinese alligator is found in the Yangtze River valley and is endangered, with only a few dozen believed to be left in the wild. More Chinese alligators live in zoos around the world. Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in southern Louisiana has several in captivity to preserve them. Miami MetroZoo in Florida also has a breeding pair of Chinese alligators

Behavior

Large male alligators are solitary territorial animals. Smaller alligators can be found in large numbers close to each other. The largest of the species defend prime territory. Smaller alligators have a higher tolerance for other alligators within a similar size class.

Alligators move on land by two forms of locomotion referred to as "sprawl" and "high walk". The sprawl is a forward movement with the belly making contact with the ground and is used to transition to "high walk" or to slither over wet substrate into water. The high walk is an up on four limbs forward motion used for overland travel with the belly well up from the ground. Alligators have been observed to stand up and balance on their hind legs and step forward as part of a forward or upward lunge for a short time. 

Although alligators have heavy bodies and a slow metabolism, it's capable of short bursts of speed, especially in short lunges. Alligators' main prey are smaller animals they can hunt and eat with a single bite. They may hunt larger prey by grabbing it and pulling it into the water to drown. Alligators eat food that can not be eaten in one bite by letting it to rot, or by biting and then spinning wildly until bite-sized chunks are torn off. This is referred to as a "death roll."

Most of the muscle in an alligator's jaw evolved to bite and grip prey. The muscles that close the jaws are powerful, but the muscles for opening their jaws are weak .

Alligators are shy towards humans and tend to walk or swim away if one gets close. In Florida, feeding wild alligators id illegal. If fed, the alligators will eventually lose their fear of humans and will learn to associate humans with food, then becoming dangerous for people.

Diet

Young alligators eat fish, insects, snails, crustaceans, and worms. As they get older, they start eating larger animals , including larger fish such as gar, turtles, and various mammals, particularly nutria and muskrat, as well as birds, deer, and other reptiles. Their stomachs also often contain gizzard stones. They will even consume carrion if they are sufficiently hungry. Larger alligators are known to ambush dogs, Florida panthers and black bears. In this role as a top predator, it may determine the abundance of prey species, including turtles and nutria.  Alligators do not immediately think people as prey, but may still attack in self-defense if provoked