Alligators

1.   Alligators are characterized by a broader snout and eyes more dorsally located than their crocodile cousins.

2.   The largest alligator ever recorded measured 19 feet 2 inches (5.8 meters) and was found on Marsh Island, Louisiana.

3.   The American Alligator is found in the United States from the Carolinas to Florida and along the Gulf Coast.

4.   In Florida alone there are an estimated more than 1 million alligators.

5.   American Alligators live in freshwater environments, such as ponds, marshes, wetlands, rivers, and swamps.

6.   Alligators are solitary, territorial animals.

7.   Although alligators have heavy bodies and slow metabolisms, they are capable of short bursts of speed that can exceed 30 miles per hour.

8.   Alligators are opportunistic feeders, eating almost anything they can catch.

9.   As they grow they take progressively larger prey items, including: larger fish such as gar, turtles, various mammals, birds, and other reptiles.

10.   Alligators will even consume carrion (carcass of a dead animal that becomes food for other scavenging animals) if they are sufficiently hungry.