General Information on the Alligator by Hunting-Trips-R-Us

The alligator resembles the crocodile, but its snout is more rounded, and when its mouth is closed the fourth tooth in each side of the lower jaw disappears into a pit in the upper jaw instead of remaining visible, as in the crocodile. Alligators live in the swamps, ponds, and streams of the southeastern United States, Mexico, and Central America. These places give this big game the best chance at hunting prey.

The American alligator reaches a maximum length of twelve to fifteen feet, half of this length representing the tail, but this big game use to reach 18 feet or more in the past. Its black or dark brown body is armed with ridged plates of bone along the back and hard scales below and is covered with tough, leathery skin. The eyes and nostrils are raised, so that the alligator can see and breathe while it floats just below the water’s surface. When completely under water, the nostrils close, a transparent eyelid protects each eye, and a valve between the mouth and throat enables the alligator to open its mouth without swallowing water. The alligator’s chief means of defense are its sharp teeth and the powerful tail, which can be lashed about like a whip.

Alligators eat fish, frogs, snakes, turtles, and practically any other form of flesh, which comes their way. Although normally they will not attack human beings, they may be extremely dangerous when wounded. The female lays from thirty to forty white eggs in a nest constructed of decaying vegetation. Within this warm, moist, rotting mass the eggs remain for two months or more, under the female’s watchful eye. At hatching time the young eight-inch-long reptiles break from their shells and head for the water. In cold weather alligators cover themselves with mud and lie motionless.