Big Gator
by D Hackett
Title
Big Gator
Artist
D Hackett
Medium
Photograph - Digital
Description
Big Gator by D Hackett
The American alligator is found in the United States from North Carolina to the Rio Grande in Texas. Alligators are usually found in freshwater, slow-moving rivers. They also live in swamps, marshes and lakes. They can only tolerate salt water for brief periods because they do not have salt glands.
Both males and females have an "armored" body with a muscular, flat tail. The skin on their back is armored with embedded bony plates called osteoderms or scutes. They have four short legs; the front legs have five toes while the back legs have only four toes. Alligators have a long, rounded snout that has upward facing nostrils at the end; this allows breathing to occur while the rest of the body is underwater. The young have bright yellow stripes on the tail; adults have dark stripes on the tail.
It's easy to distinguish an alligator from a crocodile by the teeth. The large, fourth tooth in the lower jaw of an alligator fits into a socket in the upper jaw and is not visible when the mouth is closed. This does not happen in crocodiles. Alligators have between 74 and 80 teeth in their mouth at a time. As they wear down, they are replaced. An alligator can go through 3,000 teeth in a lifetime.
Alligators are carnivorous. They have very strong jaws that can crack a turtle shell. They eat fish, snails and other invertebrates, birds, frogs and mammals that come to the water's edge. They use their sharp teeth to seize and hold prey. They swallow small prey whole. If the prey is large, they shake it apart into smaller, manageable pieces. If it is very large, they will bite it, then spin on the long axis of their bodies to tear off easily swallowed pieces.
Uploaded
May 15th, 2015
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