The Baby Alligator

Baby Alligator

Crocodiles and the Alligators

Crocodiles and Alligator are some of the most dangerous animals in the world. In fact, they are in the world's top ten most dangerous animals in the world despite the fact that crocodiles and alligators look almost alike. Africa, Asia Europe the Americas Australia or just depending on the region one is coming from, these dangerous crocodiles and alligators are some of the most important animals in the world one needs to make sure to keep a look at in  many of the worlds rivers, lakes  and swamps of the world. These lazy animals as they seem to be while basking in the sun are also very important animals within their natural habitat and the ecosystem as well. Crocodiles and alligators always swept clean these rivers and lakes of any dead animals which might have drowned or rotten killed and swept along in these alligators and crocodiles infested waters. As far as crocodile and alligator species are concerned, there are two living Alligator species: the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) and the Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis).  As far as the definition of an alligator is concerned, an alligator comes from the  crocodilian is in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. Alligator comes from the Spanish word el lagarto (the lizard). This is the famous name which was given to the alligators by the  early Spanish explorers and settlers in Florida called the alligator.

Alligator adaptations

With plenty of the most beautiful animal vegetation, forest rivers and abundant wildlife both on land and in the water, alligators have been able to get food both on land and in the water. Alligators are some of the dangerous animals which can be able to adopt to different living conditions while they are out there in the wild or just in captivity. There are many adaptations for the American alligator. When the mother alligator lays eggs, after they have been incubated and ready to hatch, the  baby alligators have an egg tooth that helps them get out of their egg during hatching time. As an amazing animal right from the egg, the alligator has the ability to swim as soon as it has been hatched. You find that baby alligators have a muscular flat tail that propels them forward while they swim and also become a danger to themselves as they become vulnerable to bird eating alligators, snakes, and big fish as well.

Alligator DESCRIPTION

There is no animal or reptile as powerful as an alligator in many of the world's lakes and rivers. Alligators are known for their dangerous powerful teeth, The alligators teeth are sopowerful that they can crash an animal and tear it into two pieces witha single bite. Its this alligator natural fact that  alligators been described as a 'living fossil from the age of reptiles, having survived on earth for 200 million years'. How the alligators survive inthe wildernes also depends on the other animals found inthe wild and in the alligator natural habitat as wella s the alligator breeding grounds.

When we take a look at an alligator natural size, for those who have had a chance to see an alligator in the wild, its strange to note that while describing the actual length of an alligator, people tend to say a bit alligator or a long alligator but the actual size of an adult American Alligator's weight and length is 800 pounds (360 kg) and 13 feet (4.0 m) long, but remember that these dangerous animals can grow to 14.5 feet (4.4 m) long and weigh 1,032 pounds (468 kg). According to the Everglades National Park website, the largest Alligator ever recorded in Florida was 17 feet 5 inches (5.3 m), although according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission web site the Florida state record for length is a 14 feet 5/8 inches (4.28 m) male from Lake Monroe in Seminole County. While there are also other alligator facts about their sizes in other countries, the Chinese alligator which was caught was smaller. The Chinese alligator nowadays rarely exceeding 7 feet (2.1 m) in length.  As far as the alligators teeth are concerned, alligator having the ability tear and crush food has a better chances of survival while out there in the wilderness. An alligators has an average of 75 teeth. Whether those teeth are many or too few for an alligator is just one fact about alligators. In fact, alligators do not chew their food but swallow whatever they put in their mouth. The alligators teeth are only used to hold and grab what is there to eat.


With a lot of information about alligators being disseminated around, a few known facts about alligators have come to light and these beautiful dangerous allocators have lifespan of about 50 years. A specimen named Muja has resided in the Belgrade Zoo in Serbia since 1937 (74 years ago), making it at least 71 years old. Another specimen, Čabulītis, in Riga Zoo, Latvia died in 2007 (4 years ago) being more than 75 years old.


Alligator Natural Habitat
Nature at any given time has its own wonders. Depending on the flora and fauna of the different parts of the world, you find that for example alligators of various ages in Everglades National Park Alligators are only native to the United States and Canada not forgetting many parts of China.


Alligators in the United States.
With plenty of rivers and streams flowing all the year round, in America the American alligators are found in many parts of the southeast United States. With many rivers and abundant rainfall all parts of  Florida, Louisiana, the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, coastal South and North Carolina, Eastern Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma and the southern tip of Arkansas. Alligators have also been found in extreme southern Missouri along the Mississippi River during the summer months. These dangerous natural predators have been creating havoc in these areas and have always come into contact with man's natural and living environment there by causing many alligator attacks and other alligator related accidents as well.  According to the 2005 (6 years ago) Scholastic Book of World Records, Louisiana is the state with the largest Alligator population. The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators in each state. Whether that’s a big number or a small population of alligators is just a matter of how many alligators are there in the United states. The Nile crocodiles as dangerous as they are living in the same natural habitat, the  American alligators as well live in freshwater environments, such as ponds, marshes, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and swamps, as well as brackish environment. Southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side.


In Asia, the Chinese Alligator currently is only located in the Yangtze River valley and is already endangered and has been listed as one of the most endangered alligators in the world. As far as this alligator species is concerned, the Chinese alligator is almost on the brink of extinction and despite many efforts being made to help improve the number of the Chinese alligators, there are still a few Chinese alligators in the wild and in captivity. There are many Chinese alligators in many of the world zoos than they are in captivity. Whether this is a good sign for the alligators or not but so long as the alligators are thriving in captivity that should help communicate about these endangered Chinese crocodiles and bring awareness to the masses. Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in southern Louisiana has several in captivity in an attempt to preserve the species. Miami Metro Zoo in Florida also has a breeding pair of Chinese alligators. The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park has successfully reproduced Chinese Alligators and been fortunate enough to release some of their offspring back Into The Wild (9 walls) in China.


Alligator Natural Behavior
Many animals which are there in the wilderness tend to live alone while some animals live in families. As far as alligators are concerned, when a baby alligator reaches maturity or has grown big enough, it will move along and try to live a solitary life. Many of the adult large male alligators just tend to live a solitary life. Remember alligators are very territorial animals and when one alligator crosses another alligators territory, this is just one area where you have alligator to alligator attacks or alligator fights .. Smaller alligators can often be found in large numbers in close proximity to each other. The largest of the species (both males and females), will defend prime territory; smaller alligators have a higher tolerance of other alligators within a similar size class. Although alligators have a heavy body and a slow metabolism, they are capable of short bursts of speed, especially in very short lunges. Alligators' main prey is smaller animals that they can kill and eat with a single bite. Alligators may kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it into the water to drown. Alligators consume food that could not be eaten in one bite by allowing it to rot or by biting and then spinning or convulsing wildly until bite-size chunks are torn off. This is referred to as a "death roll." A hard-wired response developed over millions of years of evolution, even juvenile alligators execute death rolls when presented with chunks of meat. Critical to the Alligator's ability to initiate a death roll, the tail must flex to a significant angle relative to its body. An Alligator with an immobilized tail cannot do a death roll.


Most of the muscle in an Alligator's jaw is intended for biting and gripping prey. The muscles that close the jaws are exceptionally powerful, however the muscles for opening their jaws are relatively weak in comparison. As a result, an adult man can hold an Alligator's jaws shut with his bare hands. In general, a strip of duct tape is enough to prevent an adult Alligator from opening its jaws and is one of the most common methods used when alligators are to be captured and/or transported. Alligators are generally timid towards humans and tend to walk or swim away if one approaches. Unfortunately, this has led some people to the practice of approaching alligators and their nests in a way that may provoke the animals into attacking. In the state of Florida, it is illegal to feed wild alligators at any time. If fed, the alligators will eventually lose their fear of humans and will learn to associate humans with food, thereby becoming a greater danger to people.


Alligator Natural Diet

When young they eat fish, insects, snails, crustaceans, and worms. As they grow, they take progressively larger prey items, including larger fish such as gar, turtles, various mammals, birds, antelope and other reptiles. Their stomachs also often contain gastroliths. They will even consume carrion if they are sufficiently hungry. Adult alligators can take razorbacks and deer and are well known to kill and eat smaller alligators. In some cases, larger alligators are known to hunt the Florida panther and black bears, making it the apex predator throughout its distribution. As humans encroach onto their habitat, attacks on humans are few but not unknown. Alligators, unlike the large crocodiles, do not immediately regard a human upon encounter as prey, but may still attack in self-defense if provoked.


Alligator Reproduction
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Alligator eggs and young
Baby alligators
A rare albino American alligatorAlligators generally mature at a length of 6 feet (1.8 m). The mating season is in early spring. The female builds a nest of vegetation where the decomposition of the vegetation provides the heat needed to incubate the eggs. The sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature in the nest and is fixed within 7 to 21 days of the start of incubation. Incubation temperatures of 86 °F (30 °C) or lower produce a clutch of females; those of 93 °F (34 °C) or higher produce entirely males. Nests constructed on leaves are hotter than those constructed on wet marsh and, thus, the former tend to produce males and the latter, females. The natural sex ratio at hatching is five females to one male. Females hatched from eggs incubated at 86 °F (30 °C) weigh significantly more than males hatched from eggs incubated at 93 °F (34 °C). The mother will defend the nest from predators and will assist the hatchlings to water. She will provide protection to the young for about a year if they remain in the area. The largest threat to the young are adult alligators. Predation by adults on young can account for a mortality rate of up to fifty percent in the first year. In the past, immediately following the outlawing of Alligator hunting, populations rebounded quickly due to the suppressed number of adults preying upon the new recruits, increasing survival among the young alligators.


Some alligators are missing inhibited gene for melanin, which makes them albino. These alligators are extremely rare and practically impossible to find in the wild. They could survive only in captivity. As with all albino animals, they are very vulnerable to the sun and predators

We we take a look at an alligator natural size, for those who have had a chance to see an alligator in the wild, its strange to note that while describing the actual lenght of an alligator, people tend tos ay a bit alligator or a long alligator but the actual size of an adult American Alligator's weight and length is 800 pounds (360 kg) and 13 feet (4.0 m) long, but remeber that these dangerous animals can grow to 14.5 feet (4.4 m) long and weigh 1,032 pounds (468 kg). According to the Everglades National Park website, the largest Alligator ever recorded in Florida was 17 feet 5 inches (5.3 m), although according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission web site the Florida state record for length is a 14 feet 5/8 inches (4.28 m) male from Lake Monroe in Seminole County. While therea re also other alligator facts about their sizes in other countries, the chinese alligator which was was caught was smaller. The chinese alligator nowdays rarely exceeding 7 feet (2.1 m) in length.  As far as the alligators teeth are concened, alligator having the abitity tear and crusuh food has a better chances of survival while ouththere in the wilderness. An alligators has an average of 75 teeth. Whether those teeth are many or too few for an alligator is just one fact about allitagors. Infact, alligators do not chew their food but swallow whatever they putintheir mouth. The alligators teeth are only used to hold and grab what is there to eat.

With a lot of information about alligators being disseminated around, afew known fatcs about alligators have come tolight and these beautiful dangerous allicaotrs have lifespan of about 50 years. A specimen named Muja has resided in the Belgrade Zoo in Serbia since 1937 (74 years ago), making it at least 71 years old. Another specimen, Čabulītis, in Riga Zoo, Latvia died in 2007 (4 years ago) being more than 75 years old.

Alligator Natural Habitat

Nature at any giventime has its own wonders. Depending on the flora and fauna of the different partsof the world, you find that for example alligators of various ages in Everglades National ParkAlligators are only native to the United States and Canada not forgetting many parts of  China.

Alligators in the United States.
With pplenty of rivers and streems flowing all the year round, in America the american  alligators are found in many parts of the southeast United States. With many rivers and abundant rainfall allpartsof  Florida, Louisiana, the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, coastal South and North Carolina, Eastern Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma and the southern tip of Arkansas. Alligators have also been found in extreme southern Missouri along the Mississippi River during the summer months. These dangerous natural pradotors have been creating havoc in these areas and have always come into contact with man's natural and living environment there by causing many alligator attacks and other alligator related accisens as well.  According to the 2005 (6 years ago) Scholastic Book of World Records, Louisiana is the state with the largest Alligator population. The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators in each state. Whether thats a big numbe ro r a small population of alligators is just a matter of how many alligators are there in the United states. The Nile crocodiles as dangerous as they are living inthe same naturalhabitat, the  American alligators as well live in freshwater environments, such as ponds, marshes, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and swamps, as well as brackish environment. Southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side.

In Asia , the Chinese Alligator currently is only locted in the Yangtze River valley and is already endagered and has been listed as one of the most endagered alligators in the world. As far as this alligator species is concerened, the chinese alligator is almost on the brinkof extinction and despite many efforts being made to help improve the number of the chinese alligators, there are still afew chinese alligators in the wild and in captivity. There are many chinese alligatos in many of the world zoos thatn they are in captivity. Whether this is a good sign for the alligators or not but so long as the alligators are thriving in captivity, that should help communicate about these endagered chinese crocodiles and bring awareness to the masses. Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in southern Louisiana has several in captivity in an attempt to preserve the species. Miami MetroZoo in Florida also has a breeding pair of Chinese alligators. The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park has successfully reproduced Chinese Alligators and been fortunate enough to release some of their offspring back Into The Wild (9 walls) in China.

Alligator Natural Behavior

Many animals which are there in the wilderness tend to live alone while some animals live in familes. As far as alligators are concened, when a baby alligator reaches maturity or has grown big enough,it will move along and try to live a solilitry life. Many of the adult large male alligators just tend to live a solitary life. Remember alligators are very territorial animals and when one alliagator crosses another alligators territoty, this is just one area where you have alligator to alligator atttacks or alligator fights . , territorial animals. Smaller alligators can often be found in large numbers in close proximity to each other. The largest of the species (both males and females), will defend prime territory; smaller alligators have a higher tolerance of other alligators within a similar size class. Although alligators have a heavy body and a slow metabolism, they are capable of short bursts of speed, especially in very short lunges. Alligators' main prey is smaller animals that they can kill and eat with a single bite. Alligators may kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it into the water to drown. Alligators consume food that could not be eaten in one bite by allowing it to rot or by biting and then spinning or convulsing wildly until bite-size chunks are torn off. This is referred to as a "death roll." A hard-wired response developed over millions of years of evolution, even juvenile alligators execute death rolls when presented with chunks of meat. Critical to the Alligator's ability to initiate a death roll, the tail must flex to a significant angle relative to its body. An Alligator with an immobilized tail cannot do a death roll.

Most of the muscle in an Alligator's jaw is intended for biting and gripping prey. The muscles that close the jaws are exceptionally powerful, however the muscles for opening their jaws are relatively weak in comparison. As a result, an adult man can hold an Alligator's jaws shut with his bare hands. In general, a strip of duct tape is enough to prevent an adult Alligator from opening its jaws and is one of the most common methods used when alligators are to be captured and/or transported. Alligators are generally timid towards humans and tend to walk or swim away if one approaches. Unfortunately, this has led some people to the practice of approaching alligators and their nests in a way that may provoke the animals into attacking. In the state of Florida, it is illegal to feed wild alligators at any time. If fed, the alligators will eventually lose their fear of humans and will learn to associate humans with food, thereby becoming a greater danger to people.

Alligator Natural Diet

When young they eat fish, insects, snails, crustaceans, and worms. As they grow, they take progressively larger prey items, including larger fish such as gar, turtles, various mammals, birds, antelope and other reptiles. Their stomachs also often contain gastroliths. They will even consume carrion if they are sufficiently hungry. Adult alligators can take razorbacks and deer and are well known to kill and eat smaller alligators. In some cases, larger alligators are known to hunt the Florida panther and black bears, making it the apex predator throughout its distribution. As humans encroach onto their habitat, attacks on humans are few but not unknown. Alligators, unlike the large crocodiles, do not immediately regard a human upon encounter as prey, but may still attack in self-defense if provoked.

Alligator Reproduction

Alligator eggs and young

Baby alligators

A rare albino American alligatorAlligators generally mature at a length of 6 feet (1.8 m). The mating season is in early spring. The female builds a nest of vegetation where the decomposition of the vegetation provides the heat needed to incubate the eggs. The sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature in the nest and is fixed within 7 to 21 days of the start of incubation. Incubation temperatures of 86 °F (30 °C) or lower produce a clutch of females; those of 93 °F (34 °C) or higher produce entirely males. Nests constructed on leaves are hotter than those constructed on wet marsh and, thus, the former tend to produce males and the latter, females. The natural sex ratio at hatching is five females to one male. Females hatched from eggs incubated at 86 °F (30 °C) weigh significantly more than males hatched from eggs incubated at 93 °F (34 °C). The mother will defend the nest from predators and will assist the hatchlings to water. She will provide protection to the young for about a year if they remain in the area. The largest threat to the young are adult alligators. Predation by adults on young can account for a mortality rate of up to fifty percent in the first year. In the past, immediately following the outlawing of Alligator hunting, populations rebounded quickly due to the suppressed number of adults preying upon the new recruits, increasing survival among the young alligators.

Some alligators are missing inhibited gene for melanin, which makes them albino. These alligators are extremely rare and practically impossible to find in the wild. They could survive only in captivity. As with all albino animals, they are very vulnerable to the sun and predators

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