For other uses, see Alligator (disambiguation).

Alligators

Temporal range: Oligocene-Holocene, 37–0 Ma

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Chinese+american alligators.png

An American alligator (top) and a Chinese alligator

Scientific classificatione

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Crocodilia

Family: Alligatoridae

Subfamily: Alligatorinae

Genus: Alligator

Cuvier, 1807

Type species

Crocodylus mississippiensis

Daudin, 1802

Species

†Alligator hailensis

†Alligator mcgrewi

†Alligator mefferdi

Alligator mississippiensis

†Alligator olseni

†Alligator prenasalis

Alligator sinensis

†Alligator thomsoni

An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are
the American alligator (A. mississippiensis) and the Chinese alligator (A. sinensis). Additionally, several
extinct species of alligator are known from fossil remains. Alligators first appeared during the Oligocene
epoch about 37 million years ago.[1]

The name "alligator" is probably an anglicized form of el lagarto, the Spanish term for "the lizard", which
early Spanish explorers and settlers in Florida called the alligator.[2] Later English spellings of the name
included allagarta and alagarto.[3]

Contents

1 Description

2 Species

2.1 Extant

2.2 Extinct

3 Habitat

4 Behavior

5 Diet

6 Reproduction

7 Anatomy

8 Human uses

9 Differences from crocodiles

10 Image gallery of extant species

11 See also

12 References

13 External links

Description

An average adult American alligator's weight and length is 360 kg (790 lb) and 4 m (13 ft), but they
sometimes grow to 4.4 m (14 ft) long and weigh over 450 kg (990 lb).[4] The largest ever recorded,
found in Louisiana, measured 5.84 m (19.2 ft).[5] The Chinese alligator is smaller, rarely exceeding 2.1 m
(7 ft) in length. Additionally, it weighs considerably less, with males rarely over 45 kg (100 lb).
Adult alligators are black or dark olive-brown with white undersides, while juveniles have bright yellow
or whitish stripes which sharply contrast against their dark hides, providing them additional camouflage
amongst reeds and wetland grasses.[6]

No average lifespan for an alligator has been measured.[7] One of the oldest recorded alligator lives was
that of Saturn, an American alligator who was born in 1936 in Mississippi and spent nearly a decade in
Germany before spending the majority of its life at the Moscow Zoo, where it died at the age of 83 or 84
on 22 May 2020.[8][9] Another one of the oldest lives on record is that of Muja, an American alligator
who was brought as adult specimen to the Belgrade Zoo in Serbia from Germany in 1937. Although no
valid records exist about its date of birth, it is now in its 80s and possibly the oldest alligator living in
captivity.[10][11]

Species

Extant

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution

AmericanAlligator.JPG Alligator mississippiensis American alligator the Southeastern

United States and Tamaulipas, Mexico

ChineseAlligator.jpg Alligator sinensis Chinese alligator eastern China.

Extinct

Alligator hailensis

Alligator mcgrewi

Alligator mefferdi

Alligator olseni

Alligator prenasalis

Alligator thomsoni

Habitat

A. mississippiensis

Head

Eye

Alligators are native to only the United States, Mexico, and China.[12][13]
American alligators are found in the southeast United States: 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. Louisiana has the largest alligator population.[14]
The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators in each
state. Southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side.[15][16] A
small population is also found in Tamaulipas, in Mexico.

American alligators live in freshwater environments, such as ponds, marshes, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and
swamps, as well as in brackish water.[17] When they construct alligator holes in the wetlands, they
increase plant diversity and provide habitat for other animals during droughts.[18] They are, therefore,
considered an important species for maintaining ecological diversity in wetlands.[19] Farther west, in
Louisiana, heavy grazing by coypu and muskrat are causing severe damage to coastal wetlands. Large
alligators feed extensively on coypu, and provide a vital ecological service by reducing coypu numbers.
[20]

The Chinese alligator currently is found in only the Yangtze River valley and parts of adjacent
provinces[13] and is extremely endangered, with only a few dozen believed to be left in the wild.
Indeed, far more Chinese alligators live in zoos around the world than can be found in the wild.
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.

Behavior

Alligator vocalisations

Alligator bellow

MENU0:00

Alligator bellow, ogg/Vorbis format.

Another alligator bellow

MENU0:00

Alligator bellow, ogg/Vorbis format.

Alligator hiss

MENU0:00

Alligator hiss ogg/Vorbis format.

Problems playing these files? See media help.

Large male alligators are solitary territorial animals. Smaller alligators can often be found in large
numbers close to each other. The largest of the species (both males and females) 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.[21] Alligators have also been observed
to rise up and balance on their hind legs and semi-step forward as part of a forward or upward lunge.
However, they can not walk on their hind legs.[22][23][24]

Although the alligator has a heavy body and a slow metabolism, it is capable of short bursts of speed,
especially in very short lunges. Alligators' main prey are smaller animals they can kill and eat with a
single bite. They may kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it into the water to drown. Alligators
consume food that cannot be eaten in one bite by allowing it to rot or by biting and then performing a
"death roll", spinning or convulsing wildly until bite-sized chunks are torn off. 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 perform a death roll.[25]

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. As a result, an adult human can hold an
alligator's jaws shut bare-handed. It is common to use several wraps of duct tape to prevent an adult
alligator from opening its jaws when being handled or transported.[26]

Alligators are generally timid towards humans and tend to walk or swim away if one approaches. This
may encourage people to approach alligators and their nests, which can provoke the animals into
attacking. In Florida, feeding wild alligators at any time is illegal. If fed, the alligators will eventually lose
their fear of humans and will learn to associate humans with food.[27]

Diet

The type of food eaten by alligators depends upon their age and size. When young, alligators eat fish,
insects, snails, crustaceans, and worms. As they mature, progressively larger prey is taken, including
larger fish such as gar, turtles, and various mammals, particularly coypu and muskrat,[17] as well as
birds, deer, and other reptiles.[28][29] Their stomachs also often contain gizzard stones. They will even
consume carrion if they are sufficiently hungry. In some cases, larger alligators are known to ambush
dogs, Florida panthers and black bears, making them the apex predator throughout their distribution. In
this role as a top predator, it may determine the abundance of prey species, including turtles and coypu.
[30][20] As humans encroach into their habitat, attacks 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.

Reproduction

Different stages of alligator life-cycle

Alligator eggs and young

Alligator juveniles

Alligators of various ages

Alligators generally mature at a length of 6 ft (1.8 m). The mating season is in late spring. In April and
May, alligators form so-called "bellowing choruses". Large groups of animals bellow together for a few
minutes a few times a day, usually one to three hours after sunrise. The bellows of male American
alligators are accompanied by powerful blasts of infrasound.[31] Another form of male display is a loud
head-slap.[32] In 2010, on spring nights alligators were found to gather in large numbers for group
courtship, the so-called "alligator dances".[33]

In summer, 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 seven 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, so the former tend to produce
males and the latter, females. The baby alligator's egg tooth helps it get out of its egg during hatching
time. 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).[34]
The mother defends the nest from predators and assists the hatchlings to water. She will provide
protection to the young for about a year if they remain in the area. Adult alligators regularly cannibalize
younger individuals, though estimates of the rate of cannibalism vary widely.[35][36] In the past,
immediately following the outlawing of alligator hunting, populations rebounded quickly due to the
suppressed number of adults preying upon juveniles, increasing survival among the young alligators.
[citation needed]

Anatomy
A rare albino alligator swimming

Alligators, much like birds, have been shown to exhibit unidirectional movement of air through their
lungs.[37] Most other amniotes are believed to exhibit bidirectional, or tidal breathing. For a tidal
breathing animal, such as a mammal, air flows into and out of the lungs through branching bronchi
which terminate in small dead-end chambers called alveoli. As the alveoli represent dead-ends to flow,
the inspired air must move back out the same way it came in. In contrast, air in alligator lungs makes a
circuit, moving in only one direction through the parabronchi. The air first enters the outer branch,
moves through the parabronchi, and exits the lung through the inner branch. Oxygen exchange takes
place in extensive vasculature around the parabronchi.[38]

The alligator has a similar digestive system to that of the crocodile, with minor differences in
morphology and enzyme activity.[39] Alligators have a two-part stomach, with the first smaller portion
containing gastroliths. It is believed this portion of the stomach serves a similar function as it does in the
gizzard of some species of birds, to aid in digestion. The gastroliths work to grind up the meal as
alligators will take large bites or swallow smaller prey whole. This process makes digestion and nutrient
absorption easier once the food reaches the second portion of the stomach.[40] Once an alligators meal
has been processed it will move on to the second portion of the stomach which is highly acidic. The
acidity of the stomach has been observed to increase once digestion begins. This is due to the increase
in CO2 concentration of the blood, resulting from the right to left shunting of the alligators heart. The
right to left shunt of the heart in alligators means the circulatory system will recirculate blood through
the body instead of back to the lungs.[41] The re-circulation of blood leads to higher CO2 concentration
as well as lower oxygen affinity.[42] There is evidence to suggest that there is increased blood flow
diverted to the stomach during digestion to facilitate an increase in CO2 concentration which aids in
increasing gastric acid secretions during digestion.[43] [41] The alligator's metabolism will also increase
after a meal by up to four times its basal metabolic rate. [44] Alligators also have highly folded mucosa in
the lining of the intestines to further aid in the absorption of nutrients. The folds result in greater
surface area for the nutrients to be absorbed through. [45]

Alligators also have complex microbiomes that are not fully understood yet, but can be attributed to
both benefits and costs to the animal. These microorganisms can be found in the high surface area of
the mucosa folds of the intestines, as well as throughout the digestive tract. Benefits include better total
health and stronger immune system. However alligators are still vulnerable to microbial infections
despite the immune boost from other microbiota. [45]

During brumation the process of digestion experiences changes due to the fasting most alligators
experience during these periods of inactivity. Alligators that go long enough without a meal during
brumation will begin a process called autophagy, where the animal begins to consume its fat reserves to
maintain its body weight until it can acquire a sufficient meal. [46] There is also fluctuation in the level of
bacterial taxa populations in the alligator's microbial community between seasons which helps the
alligator cope with different rates of feeding and activity. [47]
Like other crocodilians, alligators have an armor of bony scutes. The dermal bones are highly
vascularised and aid in calcium balance, both to neutralize acids while the animal cannot breathe
underwater[48] and to provide calcium for eggshell formation.[49]

Alligators have muscular, flat tails that propel them while swimming.

The two kinds of white alligators are albino and leucistic. These alligators are practically impossible to
find in the wild. They could survive only in captivity and are few in number.[50][51] The Aquarium of the
Americas in New Orleans has leucistic alligators found in a Louisiana swamp in 1987.[51]

Human uses

Main articles: Alligator farm, Alligator meat, and Alligator leather

Alligators are raised commercially for their meat and their skin, which when tanned is used for the
manufacture of luggage, handbags, shoes, belts, and other leather items. Alligators also provide
economic benefits through the ecotourism industry. Visitors may take swamp tours, in which alligators
are a feature. Their most important economic benefit to humans may be the control of coypu and
muskrats.[20]

Alligator meat is also consumed by humans.[52][53]

Differences from crocodiles

While there are rules of thumb for distinguishing alligators from crocodiles, all of them admit
exceptions. Such general rules include:

Exposed vs. interdigitated teeth: The easiest way to distinguish crocodiles from alligators is by looking at
their jaw line. The teeth on the lower jaw of an alligator fit into sockets in the upper jaw, leaving only
the upper teeth visible when the mouth is closed. The teeth on the lower jaw of a crocodile fit into
grooves on the outside of the top jaw, making both the upper and lower teeth visible when the mouth is
closed, thus creating a "toothy grin."[54]

Shape of the nose and jaw: Alligators have wider, shovel-like, U-shaped snouts, while crocodile snouts
are typically more pointed or V-shaped. The alligators' broader snouts have been contentiously thought
to allow their jaws to withstand the stress of cracking open the shells of turtles and other hard-shelled
animals that are widespread in their environments.[54][55] A 2012 study found very little correlation
between bite force and snout shape amongst 23 tested crocodilian species.[56]
Functioning salt glands: Crocodilians have modified salivary glands called salt glands on their tongues,
but while these organs still excrete salt in crocodiles and gharials, those in most alligators and caimans
have lost this ability, or excrete it in only extremely small quantities.[54] The ability to excrete excess
salt allows crocodiles to better tolerate life in saline water and migrating through it.[54] Because
alligators and caimans have lost this ability, they are largely restricted to freshwater habitats, although
larger alligators do sometimes live in tidal mangroves and in very rare cases in coastal areas.[54]

Integumentary sense organs: Both crocodiles and alligators have small, pit-like sensory organs called
integumentary sense organs (ISOs) or dermal pressure receptors (DPRs) surrounding their upper and
lower jaws.[54] These organs allow crocodilians to detect minor pressure changes in surrounding water,
and assist them in locating and capturing prey. In crocodiles, however, such organs extend over nearly
the entire body.[54] Crocodile ISOs may also assist in detection of local salinity, or serve other
chemosensory functions.[54]

Less consistent differences: Crocodiles are generally thought of as more aggressive than alligators.[54]
Only six of the 23 crocodilian species are considered dangerous to adult human beings, most notably the
Nile crocodile and saltwater crocodile. Each year, hundreds of deadly attacks are attributed to the Nile
crocodile in sub-Saharan Africa. The American crocodile is considered to be less aggressive. Only a few
(unverified) cases of American crocodiles fatally attacking humans have been reported.[57] Alligators
also tend to be larger than most crocodile species.[54] However, there are numerous exceptions to
these rules.

Image gallery of extant species