The alligator is Florida's official state reptile. Alligators have been around since the age of dinosaurs. They can grow up to 20 feet long and can reach weights of more than half a ton. Wild alligators have a natural fear of people, however, when people feed them gators associate humans with food and lose their fear. It is very important not to feed or approach alligators.
Alligators have a broad and rounded snout.
Crocodiles have a narrow pointed snout and its fourth tooth on the lower jaw is visible when its mouth is closed. Alligators don't have a protruding fourth tooth and when an alligators mouth is closed, usually only the upper teeth show. An alligator swimming in a canal near H. P. Williams Roadside Park. Only the alligator's head and part of its back are visible above the water when an alligator swims at the surface. This makes it easier for an alligator to approach its prey undetected.