
American Alligator
Latin name: Alligator mississippiensi
Powerful Jaws!
- Its robust skull and powerful muscles allow the American alligator’s jaws to exert a pressure equal to 3,000 pounds psi.
- The American alligator is an opportunistic ambush predator that lies and waits for its preys; thanks to the strategic placement of its ears, eyes and nostrils atop its head, it is practically invisible at water level.
- Crocodilians are the only reptiles that provide true parental care; once hatched, the young are transported gently in their mother’s jaw to the water hole where she keeps an eye on them.
- Alligators were given their name by the first Spanish explorers who called them “el legarto”, meaning “the lizard” in Spanish.
- The American alligator was a threatened species in the sixties, mostly due to the leather trade. Strict conservation measures we implemented and allowed the populations to recover, to the point that there are nearly a million individuals in Florida today.
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Distribution
Southeastern United States
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Habitat
Swamps, freshwater
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Diet
Carnivore
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Status
Least concern
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Zoo Zone
South America