American Alligator



(Alligator mississippiensis)

One of the most amazing things I've seen is just how strong an alligator's jaws are. I've seen an adult crunch through a large freshwater turtle shell. Very amazing animals.

Now that's for big prey. Smaller prey doesn't require so much ambush strategy. If an alligator is underwater and spots a good size fish it will chase the fish underwater and grab it, kill it, and eat it right then and there. Smaller animals can be taken too. Now a smaller animal is much harder to catch than a larger one. Why? Because smaller animals are a lot quicker, more agile and way more wary. So alligators generally grab small animals like the beaver sized rodents known as nutria, when they are swimming across the stream or taking a bath.

Animals are sexually mature at about 1.9 meters (6ft). Males begin calling females with loud bellows and roars that can be heard all over the bayous and marshlands. Many of these calls are subsonic and can't be heard by human ears, but they still can be viewed. An adult male will raise his head and neck out of the water and then rapidly contracts his trunk muscles sending a soundwave pulsating from his body so strong that it makes the water bubble around him. This sound travels very far underwater and when listened to up close sounds a lot like distant thunder. Females who hear this will find the male who sent it and then initiate courtship behaviour. They will go up and nudge the male's back and neck. This can last for hours as these animals "fondle" each other with their jaws. Eventually mating begins. Male alligators and crocodylians in general have only one penis instead of the two that is commonly found in the squamates.

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Now we've all heard that baby alligators are little replicas of adults. This is a load of bull. A baby alligator has a huge head with large eyes and a short snout. In other words they have a baby face.





Most attacks on humans have not been fatal and the injuries usually aren't too great, so there isn't too much to worry about when around an alligator. Just be careful when your in their territory and above all if you find that your camera (that doesn't zoom in) can only get the inside of that big alligator's mouth in your shot, then your probably too close.