Alligators

ALLIGATORS 

Alligators, belonging to the class Reptilia and 

family Alligatoridae are notorious animals, well                 

recognized for their bone-crushing bites.                        

The word “alligator” is anglicized form of “el lagarto” 

(Spanish for lizard). They weigh 800 pounds

(360 kg) and are 13 feet in length. They are long lived 

animals with a life span exceeding 60 years. They 

are cold blooded and actively reproduce in summer.

  Habitat: Alligators live in marshy areas and they have a variety of successful adaptations due to which they haven’t changed a bit since the Cretaceous period. They are natives to the United States and China.

Types of Alligators:-

1.      American Alligators

·        Live in fresh water environments

·        Southeast of the U.S. including Florida, Louisiana, southern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Eastern Texas, Southeast Oklahoma and Southern tip of Arkansas.

·        Louisiana had over a million population

·        In Southern Florida, alligators and crocodiles live side by side.

·        E.g.;  Alligator mississippiensis

2.      Chinese Alligators

·        Live in the Yangtze River valley

·        These are extremely endangered specie

·        Only a few dozen are left

·        Most of them are kept in zoo for tourism than in wild.

·        E.g.;  Alligator sinensis

Importance of Alligators

      I.            Ecological Aspects

                Alligators are famous for wallowing out “gator holes” in swampy areas during the dry season. These gator holes are the only places that hold water when it’s dry. It is safe for other animals to drink from these holes as the gators hardly eat 50 times a year in the wild with less chance for other animals of being their “sacrifice”.

   II.             Biological Aspects

             Alligators are biologically important as they are of two types:-

                                i.            Albino

·        Extremely rare specie

·        Impossible to find it in the wild

·        Survive only in captivity

·        Vulnerable to sun and predators

·        Have non-functional gene for “melanin”, therefore known as “albino”

                             ii.            Leucistic

·        all pigment genes are defective including the “melanin gene” due  which they are white with blue eyes

·        present in the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans found from a Louisiana swamp in 1987

III.            Economic Aspects

Alligator’s meat and skin have commercial importance as they’re used for making bags and shoes.

Endangered Species

                Chinese alligators are extremely endangered species that are hardly found in the wild and are mostly kept in the zoos. Scientists are trying to return the eggs of these alligators back into the Chinese wild to relocalization.