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| Commom Name |
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American Aligator |
|
Scientific Name |
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Alligator mississippiensis |
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Alligator |
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| Behaviour |
 Although alligators have a heavy body and a slow metabolism, they are capable of short bursts of speed. Alligators' main prey are smaller animals which they can kill and eat with a single bite. They may kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it into the water to drown.
Most of the muscle in an alligator's jaw evolved to bite and grip prey. The muscles that close the jaws are exceptionally powerful, but the muscles for opening their jaws are comparatively weak. |
| Diet |
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| When young, alligators eat fish, insects, snails, crustaceans, and worms. As they mature, progressively larger prey is taken, including larger fish such as gar, turtles, various mammals, birds, deer and other reptiles. Adult alligators can take razorbacks and deer and are well known to kill and eat smaller alligators.[citation needed].Alligators, unlike the large crocodiles, do not immediately regard a human upon encounter as prey, but may still attack in self-defense if provoked. |
| Environment |
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| Alligators live in swampy areas, rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. Females and juveniles occasionally use seasonal wetlands. Although they are primarily freshwater animals, alligators will also venture into brackish salt water. On the Savannah River Site, alligators are abundant in the Savannah River, its swamp and tributaries, L-Lake, Par Pond and other reservoirs on the site. |
| Current Status |
|
| The American alligator is currently common to abundant in coastal South Carolina. Large, protected populations exist
on some government-owned lands, such as the Savannah
National Wildlife Refuge and Donnelly Wildlife
Management Area. This species has recovered from very
low population levels in the 1950's and 1960's (Murphy and
Wilkinson, 1982) due to protection afforded it by the
federal Endangered Species Act from unregulated harvest
(Murphy and Wilkinson, 1982). |
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