THE AMERICAN ALLIGATOR INFORMATION!
Common and Scientific Names:
Common Name: American
Alliagator
Scientific Name: Genus
crocodylidae
Unique Adaptations:
One of the many unique
adaptations of an alligator are its skin. This is because the alligator's skin is very strong so it can stay under water
for long periods of time and if it is in a fight, it won't get 'cut open' very easily!
Another unique adaptation
of an alligator is its silence and sound. At birth, baby alligators quack, or squeak, so their mother can easily find
them. But soon, they learn to be more silent, so prey can't hear them while hunting!
Habitat/Biome:
Alligators like to live in grassy wetlands and water. They basically all live in/around the Carolinas and Florida.
In the winter, they bury themselves in mud. When prey comes near, they catch it from where they are!
Benefits to Other Organisms:
The alligator eats mice,
and when it eats mice, there are less and less chances of other animals getting harmful diseases like rabies, etc!
Food/Energy:
Alligators eat fish, snakes,
frogs, turtles, birds, dogs, pigs, cattle, mice, deer, and other small mammals. Alligators get eaten by bigger alliagtors
and raccoons eat baby alligators or unhatched ones.
Reproduction and Growth:
After mating, a mother
makes a nest and lays 20-60 eggs in the center of the pile she made using her body, where the nest is wet. The mother
stays there for about 9 weeks, then the eggs hatch. At birth, baby alligators are about 6-8 inches long. They're
teenie tiny at first, but then, they grow to be about 7 feet long and weighing a whomping 600 pounds!
Other Interesting Facts:
Some of many of the interesting
facts about alligators are:
*It is related to the crocodile
*While crocodiles LOVE salt-water, alligators get sick from it if they are in it for
too long.
*All meat on an alligator is edible, although you must have a permit to hunt then since
they are almost on the endangered species list.
*Wild alligators live to be around 35-50 years old, while ones held in captivity can
live up to 60-80 years!
*They are the largest reptile on Earth!
