American alligator is one of the known tow known subspecies of alligators. Their name actually came from the Spanish word el lagarto which means "the lizard" and mississippiniensis meaning that the alligator belongs to the Mississippi river. They are natives in Southeastern United States. From the two known alligator species, American alligators are bigger in size than their cousin, the Chines alligator.
With their appearance, they have thick limbs, very powerful tails and their body is well-round. Being an aquatic creature, half of their total size is definitely their tail. While they may be considered to be bigger than the Chinese ones, American alligators can only grow for up to 4.5 meters for the males and 3 meters for the females. They have broad snouts and as what was observed, captive breeds tend to have broader snouts than the wild ones. The edge of their upper jaw overlaps the lower jaw which made them distinctive from the crocodiles. They have yellow bands with black background when they're still juveniles. These yellow bands will then disappear as they grow. The color of their neck and belly is creamy white while their eyes are mostly green just like the other crocodilians.
As for their natural habitats, they are commonly found in freshwater marshes, swamps and rivers. In some other cases also, they are being seen in mangrove swamps though they are lacking of buccal salt-secreting glands. They are also known to create burrows and place for hibernation every cold season. Within this hibernation period, the American alligators will stop eating for a few weeks. If they're living near human habitation, then seeing them crossing the streets is normal.
With regards to their food, the juveniles eat any invertebrates, fishes and frogs. Of course, their food will be in great size when they grew up. They eat preys within the range they are living. Some common preys they eat are fishes, turtles, birds, reptiles and even small alligators. They are known to be opportunistic predators and will attack any prey whenever hungry. They are accurate to have the ability to attack humans, but they may seem to disregard human flesh in their diet. In fact, they do keep some distance when seeing any human threats. As for their breeding, they usually start this every spring and produce some aural and visual communication which literally translates that they are ready to mate. When seeing them to have a very complex body posture, then the are also said to be in complete readiness for mating. The females, when reaching the size of 1.8 meters are said to be sexually ready.
Overall, they may have large number as of the moment. Let's be thankful for the applied laws in conserving them. Though they are almost extinct in the early of 20th century because of the large killings of them for their belly skins, still the government used its power to control the hunts on alligators.
American Alligator are the biggest gators. Thanks for reading my article Ari Flagle
