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Daily Bucket: American Alligator [1]

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Date: 2025-04-07

The Daily Bucket is a regular series from the Backyard Science group. Here we talk about Mother Nature in all her glory, especially the parts that live nearby. So let us know (as close as you are comfortable) where you are and what's going on around you. What's the weather like? Seen any interesting plants, bugs or critters? Are there birds at your feeders? Deer, foxes or snakies in your yard? Seen any cool rocks or geological features? Post your observations and notes here. And photos. We like photos. :)

When the Spanish explorers reached Florida in the 16th century, they encountered huge lizardlike reptiles inhabiting the swamps and rivers, and called it “el lagarto”—“the lizard”. This was anglicized into “alligator”. Although ancient alligators were spread across most of the world, today only two species remain, on opposite sides of the globe—the critically endangered Chinese Alligator, which inhabits the Yangtze River, and the American Alligator, found from North Carolina to Texas. Central and South America are also home to the closely related Caimans and to the American Crocodile.

Biologically, Alligators, like the other crocodilians, are members of the Archosaur group, and are very similar to dinosaurs and birds. Like birds (but unlike most reptiles), crocodilians have four-chambered hearts, which prevent oxygenated and unoxygenated blood from mixing. Unlike other reptiles, which have teeth attached to the sides of their jawbones, Alligators and Crocodiles have socketed teeth, which modern birds no longer have but their ancient ancestors once did. Most reptiles have limbs that splay out to the sides, but crocodilians are able to walk with a distinctive “high-legged” rapid gait in which they place their feet directly below their bodies, like a dinosaur or bird. (Some ancient crocodilians were even able to walk upright on two legs like dinosaurs.) Also like birds, crocodilians make nests and care for their eggs and young—the youngsters even make birdlike chirping calls for mommy’s protection when they are afraid of something.

Gators are unusual in that their gender is not determined by genetics—instead, the temperature at which the eggs are incubated determines if it produces a male (at higher temperatures) or a female (at lower temperatures). Since the heat distribution inside the nest is usually uneven, a single nest will produce both males and females.

Like other reptiles, Alligators are ectothermic—they do not produce their own body heat through metabolism, but use the energy from sunlight to maintain their body temperatures, and spend most of their time basking. Gators lead a lazy low-effort lifestyle, and are masters at conserving energy. They hunt mostly at night, capturing any sort of aquatic animal they can find, from fish to turtles to wading birds to mammals that come to shore to drink. Smaller prey is crunched up and swallowed whole; larger prey is pulled into the water and drowned, then disassembled for swallowing. Because of their ectothermic biology, gators do not require large amounts of food; one good meal every few weeks is usually sufficient, and they can go months without eating if necessary. During the winter they usually don’t eat at all.

As water levels fall during the dry season, adult Alligators will make large wallows in the mud, connected by channels, that fill with groundwater—these “gator holes” are important refuges for birds, turtles and other aquatic animals. In the northern parts of their range, Alligators can tolerate freezing temperatures, poking holes in the ice to breathe and going into a dormant state until spring.

As the human population of Florida grew rapidly in the 1940’s and 1950’s, the Alligators suffered a severe loss of habitat as well as increased hunting for the leather trade. By the 1960’s, populations had dropped to dangerously low levels, and it was feared the species might go extinct. When the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, the American Alligator was one of the first species listed. Efforts were made to preserve and expand their wetlands habitat, and gators began to be farm-raised. By 1987, the species had recovered enough that it was removed from the endangered list, and the American Alligator is today one of the best-known success stories of the conservation movement.

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