Brought back from the brink of extinction, over a million of these reptiles survive today. American alligators live in the wild in the southeastern United States where they live in rivers, lakes, ponds, swamps, bayous, and marshes. These reptiles are kind of clumsy on land, but they’re built for life in the water. Great swimmers, they are equipped with webbed feet and strong tails that propel them through the water. An average male American alligator is three to five meters long. Half of its length is its massive, strong tail. An alligator can weigh as much as half a ton, but an average male weighs between 250 kilograms. Females are usually smaller than males. As big and ferocious as the female alligator may look, she is a gentle mother. A mother alligator makes a nest on shore, where she lays her eggs. Then she guards her eggs until they’re ready to hatch. At that point the babies start to make noises, and their mother hears her little ones’ peeps as they break out of the eggs. She gently carries them—in her mouth—to the water nearby. Newly hatched young are only about 15 to 20 centimetres long, and very vulnerable. Their mother protects them from predators, which include raccoons, bobcats, birds, and even other alligators. The young alligators stay with their mother for up to two years, after which, they’re able to fend for themselves.
Quick Facts
Diet
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Colour
Vary from beige , tan, cream to black
Weight
10-15kgs
Lifespan
7-10 in the wild but up to 16 in captivity
Predators
Humans, crocodiles, birds of prey take pups.
Conservation Status
Endangered
Distribution
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Habitat
psum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever
Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.