This document provides information about alligators and compares them to crocodiles. It details the physical characteristics of American and Chinese alligators. Topics covered include their diet, reproduction, habitat, and communication methods. Threats like predation and climate change are discussed. The document concludes with a bibliography of referenced sources.

1. Patricia Radtke
ED 205-05

2.  Alligator or  Predators
Crocodile?  Cold Blooded
 Types of Alligators  Vision
 Meet the Alligator  Alligator Farming
 Diet  Extinction Scare
 Reproduction  Is Florida too hot?
 The Tail  Imagine This…
 Where are they  Bibliography
found?
 Communication

3. Alligator Crocodile
Snout Short, wide, and U-shaped Long, narrow, and V-
shaped
Teeth Lower teeth are mostly When mouth is closed, the
hidden when mouth is lower teeth show outside
closed while fitting into the upper jaw and upper
sockets in upper jaw teeth show outside the
lower jaw
Salt Glands Non-functional Salt glands on the tongue
emit extra salt
Sensory Pits Only near jaws Found all over the body

4.  American Alligator
 19 feet long, and up to 600 pounds
 Chinese Alligator
 6 feet long
 has a bigger head
 its snout is tapered and turns up slightly at the
end
Chinese Alligator

5.  Four legged
 Long tail (half of its length)
 About 80 teeth
 Grow back as they loose them
 No longer endangered
 Can live in the wild from 35 to 50 years
 10 to 15 ft in length
 Up to 1,000 lbs
Hear the alligator bellow

6.  Carnivore
 Nocturnal, feed only at night That is the sound of a
 Swallow food whole hungry alligator
 Offspring:
 Insects, shrimps, snails, small fish, tadpoles and
frogs
 Adults:
 Fish, birds, turtles, reptiles, and mammals

7.  April to May
 Females can lay up to 50 eggs
 Large nest
 3 feet tall, 6 feet wide
 Made of mud
 Female protects the eggs but cannot sit on them
because she can crush them
 Mother stays with offspring for about one year
 Temperature determines sex of offspring
 Above 93°F = Male
 Below 86°F = Female See baby alligators hatching!
 In between = Both
Listen to baby
alligators

8.  An alligators tail is filled with fat and acts as a
propel when it swims and is half of the
animal’s body.
 It can also make “gator holes” which are
pools of water.
 They use their tails as weapons when
threatened.

9.  Alligators mostly live in fresh to semi salty
water, in swamps, marshes, canals, and
lakes
 The American alligator
 only found in the southeastern part of the USA
 Chinese alligator
 lower Yangtze River basin in China

10.  Hiss
 long, loud, full-bodied
 Used as defensive warning
 Bellow
 most often in spring during mating season
 Carry long distance in the water
 females make single bellow-growl when approached by
male
 Male alligators use "water dance" to woo females and to
signal location and dominance among other males
 The vibrations from their bellows is what makes the water
“dance”

11.  An Alligators number one predator is man
 Pythons
 Uses for alligator
 Meat
 Hand bags
 Boots
 Clothing
 Other Products

12.  Feeding, metabolic rate, digestion, and other
activity depends on external temperature
 The heat from the sun activates digestive
enzymes, so cold temperatures can kill an
alligator with a full stomach because the food
will rot instead of digest
 The best body temperature is around 89°F
 When it is cold outside, alligators come out of
the water to absorb the sun
 When it is warm outside, they stay in the water,
or go into the water to cool off

13.  An alligators pupils fully dilate at night
creating the sharpness similar to an owl
 Eyes are on top of the head and they can pull
them into their skull for protection
 Eyes act like a compass needle and stay
vertical to the horizon, no matter the heads
position.

14.  Georgia, Texas, Louisiana
 6 to 7 ft hides average $300
 300,000 lbs of meat produced annually
(continually growing)

15.  The alligator was listed as an endangered
species in 1967
 The Endangered Species Act of 1973
outlawed alligator hunting
 By 1987, the alligator population recovered

16.  The alligators living in the everglades have
been smaller in weight and length
 This could be from the high temperatures
increasing their metabolism or from limited
food availability

17.  While swimming on a summer vacation,
imagine seeing an alligator in the water…
Click here to see the news report

18.  “All about Alligators.” Enchanted Learning. 02 August 2009.
<http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/Alligator.shtml >.
 “American Alligator.” 03 August 2009.
<http://www.corkscrew.audubon.org/Wildlife/Alligators.html>.
 “American Alligator.” National Geographic. 02 August 2009.
<http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/america
n-alligator.html>.
 “Alligator Sounds.” Sound Board. 03 August 2009.
<http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Alligator_sounds_audio.aspx>.
 “Chinese Alligator.” Saint Louis Zoo. 03 August 2009.
<http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/reptiles/alligato
rsandcrocodiles/chinesealligator.htm>.