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*****Please note, this webcam works best in FireFox. Internet Explorer may***** *****cause some issues that prevent the images from being updated.***** *****To view a Java version compatible in most browsers click here.*****
The American alligator is the largest reptile in North America. The alligator can be distinguished from the American crocodile by its short, rounded snout and black color.
Adult alligators can reach up to 18 feet in length, although the average is 13 feet. An alligator's tail accounts for half of the length. Male alligators, or bulls, are generally larger than females. On average, they weigh from 450 to 600 pounds.
Alligators can be found in rivers, swamps, bogs, lakes, ponds, creeks, canals, and bayous. Alligators can tolerate some salt water and have been spotted in marshes as well.
Widespread in Florida, alligators also live in Southern Texas,
Louisiana, and parts of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and
Alabama.
Alligators eat just about anything, including lizards, fish, snakes, turtles, small mammals, birds, crustaceans, and even small alligators. They hunt for prey underwater and often swallow their meal whole.
Females build their nests in marshy areas and along shorelines. The temperature of the nest determines the sex of the hatchlings. The mother stays close to her nest to protect it. When the young hatch, they peep and the mother helps the hatchlings out of the nest and carries them in her mouth to the water.
MISCELLANEOUS FACTS:
• American alligators hibernate during the winter in burrows (or "dens") that they construct, but may occasionally emerge during brief spells of warmer weather.
• Alligators do not feed during the cooler months. Studies in captivity have shown that alligators generally begin to lose their appetite below 27°C (80°F), and stop feeding altogether below 23°C (73°F). They can easily last the winter on their energy reserves.
• Adult alligators can survive freezing conditions if they are in water. They submerge their body but keep their nostrils projecting above the water surface, so that when the surface freezes they can still breathe (called the "icing response"). Essentially their upper body becomes trapped in the ice. However, occasionally alligators may be trapped completely below ice, and have been known to survive for over 8 hours without taking a breath, because the freezing water slows their metabolic rate down to very low levels. Yet another example of their amazing ability to survive.
• As of May 2006, there have been 19 confirmed fatalities caused by alligators in the State of Florida since records began in 1948.
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