| Size |
American alligators are an average six to fifteen feet long (the record American alligator was over 19 feet long and 1043 pounds.) |
| Weight |
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| Conservation Status |
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| Diet |
In the wild, American alligators eat fish, turtles, snakes, mammals and birds.
At the Zoo, they're fed rats and chicken.
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| Geographic Range |
Their native habitat is the swamps, ponds, lakes, sluggish rivers and marshes of the southeastern U.S. from North Carolina to Texas. |
| Where to find me in the Zoo |
The Reptile House |
Note: Description below should include Longevity, Behavior, and Reproduction information
American alligators are generally gray or black in color and have a broad, flat head and rounded snout, along with short sturdy limbs, webbed feet and sharp claws. Their bottom teeth aren't visible when the mouth is closed.
On average, American alligators live about 50 years. The record is 73 years.
They lay 20-60 eggs in a mound of mud, humus and rotting vegetation near the water's edge. Incubation averages 65 days. After the eggs hatch, the mother may stay with her young for one to three years.
Alligators have no chromosomes to determine sex. Sex is determined by incubation temperature. Less than 30 degrees Celsius produces females, more than 34 degrees Celsius produces males.
Alligators spend much of their day basking on shores of rivers and lakes hidden in vegetation.
They have a complex system of social communication. This includes seven different identified vocalizations, subsonic vibrations and a series of behaviors such as jaw slapping on the waters surface. These all combine to communicate territory between males, indicate gender in areas of poor visibility and the alarm calls of hatchlings will bring adults to the rescue.
The American alligator's broad, heavy head is an adaptation to living in heavily vegetated swamps--a heavy head has more momentum to help catch prey by smashing through thick vegetation.
Blackie: Male, hatched in the wild. He was acquired from a facility in the Florida Everglades and arrived at the Zoo on September 10, 1956.
Enrichment
Adoption Information
Featured Foster Parent