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Swift and accurate in attack, alligators kill their victims by clamping their powerful jaws on to their prey before dragging them under water.

The reptiles main method of inflicting death is to drown its quarry coupled with violently shaking and breaking bones with its teeth.

Alligators are almost invisible to see before striking from shallow water.

They will feed on just about anything including fish, frogs, birds , turtles, snakes , small mammals, other alligators, white-tailed deer, wild hogs, people's pets and humans.

Once between the gator’s jaw the prey is taken below water where the reptile is most strong.

Read more:Body of toddler dragged into lagoon has been found

After death the beasts will either take the carcass into the water and consume it or store it in an underwater den.

They eat by biting and do not swallow the prey in its entirety.

(Image: James Breeden/Daily Mirror)

Female rarely exceed 10 feet in length, but males can grow much larger.

The Florida record for length is a 14 foot 3-1/2 inch male from Lake Washington in Brevard County.

The state record for weight is a 74 stone male from Orange Lake in Alachua County.

Florida has the largest alligator population in the United States and made the creature its official state reptile in 1987.

An estimated 1.3 million to 2 million gators live across all 67 counties in Florida and inhabit fresh water marshes, swamps, rivers and lakes across the state.

Since 1948, 383 people in Florida have suffered alligator bites with only 23 of those attacks being fatal.