From Dinosaur Days
The ancestors of alligators and crocodiles walked and swam the earth 200 million years ago along with their cousins, the dinosaurs and flying reptiles. Throughout their ancient history, many crocodilians have lived diverse lifestyles as terrestrial, marine, and amphibious predators. Members of the crocodilian family tree were successful predators long before early mammals began their rule.

Modern alligators have acquired many special traits that make them masters in their wetland homes. A gator's eyes, ears, and nose can peek just above the water's surface in search of prey while its body remains submerged and out-of-sight. The ears and nostrils automatically close as the gator slides underwater. A transparent third eyelid, or nictitating membrane, covers the eyes as the reptile's powerful tail propels its streamlined body easily through the water.

The Sounds Of The Future
During the morning hours of April and May breeding season begins with roaring bellows and splashing head slaps. A bull gator courts the females that visit him with nose-taps, nudges, and shoves. After mating with her favorite fellow, the female swims off to find a suitable nest site where the water level will not rise enough to drown her eggs. In the early summer she builds a three-foot-high, six-foot-wide mound from nearby plants and mud. The temperature within the nest determines the sex of the hatchlings. The heat of decaying vegetation and a sunny location provide a steady temperature. Cooler nests (82-86 degrees F) produce females, warmer ones (90-93 degrees F) produce males, and those with in-between temperatures produce both sexes. Female gators defend the nests from hungry egg thieves such as raccoons. And even though red-bellied turtles are frequently gator snacks, they sneak by gator guardians to lay their eggs in the protected mound. At the end of two months, mom gator anxiously listens for a tell-tale "barking" that signals it is time to scratch open an exit for the hatchlings.

Crocodilian mothers provide the most parental care compared to any other reptiles. A mother will allow babies (a group of baby alligators is called a pod) to rest on her back and in her mouth. Frightened hatchlings and youngsters use a distress call to alert the parent. Other adults in the neighborhood often respond to this vocalization as well. Raccoons, skunks, otters, turtles, fish, wading birds, and even large alligators eat hatchlings and small juveniles.

Gator Hole Gatherings
Like other reptiles, crocodilians gather body heat from the environment by basking in the sun and lying on warm surfaces. Throughout the Everglades of South Florida gators muck out the grasses and mud to create pools for gator holes where water collects. When the flow of water across the sawgrass prairie dries up in winter, these holes become oases in a land of cracked mud and brown leaves. But all around the water hole, life goes on as usual. Catfish and garfish crowd the pond as fish-eating birds like anhingas and herons perch in the willows to preen and digest a meal. Hungry deer cross the open grasses to feed on the healthy greenery surrounding the pond. The alligator shapes the landscape for itself and in the process becomes a wildlife manager that provides favorable conditions for the other inhabitants until the rains come.

Conservation Success
For a century the American alligator was heavily hunted for its meat and skin. Strong laws and concerned citizens worked together to save the alligator from extinction. Success! Populations have increased to where the gator has been down-graded from endangered to threatened.

Amphibious: adapted for both land and water