American Alligator Research Paper

The American Alligator comes from the phylum Chordata and class Reptilia. It is one of the largest reptiles in North America. They have short powerful legs and a long pointed snout. Alligators go over 2,000-3,000 teeth through their lifetime, since 80 teeth have to be in the alligator’s mouth at a time. They grow a foot a year females grow as big as nine feet, while males can be as big as 13-14 feet. They are mostly found in freshwater habitats like rivers, lakes and marshes. It is found in the southeastern of the United States. They are carnivores, they eat snakes, turtles, fish, small mammals. Its hunting is mainly done in the water. According to nature works the alligators swallow small prey as a whole and they drag larger prey underwater

and drowns it (2017). When the environment is 50˚C they stop eating. While young alligators eat insects, shrimp, frogs and small fish. They start breeding when they are about 10 years old. They produce about 35-50 eggs. The female alligator digs a depression where she would put her eggs and covers it with vegetation and she also guards the nest. When they are over a month the eggs hatch making a squeaking sound to let the mother know that it is time to remove the vegetation. Their sex is determined by the temperature of the nest, to get all female alligators temperature is about 82-86˚F, but for males the temperature is higher 90-93˚F. When the nest varies from 82-90˚F the hatchings are both male and female (2017). The baby alligators are carried in their mother’s mouth or back to be placed in the water. The American alligator do not hibernate, they become dormant during cold weather.