### animal | vertebrate | reptile | crocodilian:

Alligator
* All alligators bask, smaller ones most frequently
  - determine the sex of their offspring by the temperature of the nest
* Most alligators absorb heat.
* Most alligators achieve body temperature
  - prefer body temperature
  - become predators
  - come from reptiles
  - consume fish
  - dig holes
* Most alligators eat fish
  - food
  - frogs
  - insects
  - mammals
  - prey
  - rough fish
  - small fish
  - enter water
  - establish ranges
  - excrete waste
  - exhibit movement
  - exist in areas
  - fear humans
  - feed on mammals
  - follow prey
* Most alligators have eyelids
  - heads
  - legs
  - round snouts
  - short legs
  - structures
  - teeth
  - toes
  - transparent eyelids
  - years
* Most alligators live in Florida
  - adverse environments
  - lagoons
  - streams
  - swamp
* Most alligators make pitch sound
* Most alligators occur in regions
  - temperate regions
  - pick up frogs
  - protect hatchlings
* Most alligators reach adulthood
  - foot length
* Most alligators remain in areas
  - small areas
  - seek mates
* Most alligators share ancestors
  - common ancestors
  - many similarity
  - submerge eyes
* Most alligators submerge in freeze water
* Most alligators survive cold seasons
  - use tails
* Most alligators venture into salt water
  - weigh pounds
* Some alligators are harvested for skin
  - break bones
  - build habitats
  - cross roads
  - dig burrows
* Some alligators eat anything
  - ducks
  - mallards
  - pythons
  - rodents
* Some alligators emerge from dormancy
  - winter dormancy
  - emit pheromone
  - escape from zoos
* Some alligators excrete alkaline urine
* Some alligators have average levels
  - cuticles
  - estrogen levels
* Some alligators have linear home ranges
  - protective cuticles
* Some alligators live in Louisiana
  - lakes
  - marsh
  - moats
  - wetland
  - up to years
  - provide food
  - reach feet
  - share habitats
* Some alligators show deformities
  - jaw deformities
* actually have very good eyesight, which is an important adaptation for hunting.
* also are good indicators of environmental factors, such as toxin levels
  - eat carrion-the remains of animals that are already dead
  - emit sounds called chumpfs
  - like to eat snakes
  - provide aesthetic, educational, recreational, and economic benefits to humans
  - use water to hunt
* are a prominent presence in Florida's Everglades
  - reminder of the past prehistoric era
  - vital part of the Florida swamp, and play a key role in maintaining the wetlands
  - able to tolerate slightly colder waters
  - about nine inches long when they hatch
  - abundant
* are active in the summer and are mostly observed sunning on banks
  - are observed sunning on banks mostly during spring and fall
* are also important to maintaining the viability of marshes
  - less aggressive than crocodilids
* are also much less aggressive and active than crocodiles
  - slower moving than crocodiles
  - always present
  - among the most nurturing of the reptiles
  - broad-snouted and are found only in the southern United States and eastern China
  - capable of submerging underwater for several hours
* are carnivorous and eat anything they can catch
  - feed on a variety of other animals
  - reptiles whose primary feeding time is at night
* are cold blooded and enjoy warming themselves in the sun
  - reptiles which become dormant or inactive in cold weather
  - cold-blooded animals
  - critical to the survival of Everglades National Park
  - crocodilians, just a separate group like caimans or garials
  - dangerous
  - dark green, and have a short, wide snout
  - dormant throughout much of the winter season
  - down until spring, and lizards are trying to stay warm in hidden places
  - extremely quick and agile
  - freshwater reptiles, favoring the rivers, lakes, swamps, and marshes of the coast
  - generally more active when the weather is warm
  - grayish-black
  - hunted for their meat and internal organs for alternative medicine use and also food
* are immune to the bite of poisonous snakes
  - venomous snakes
  - in the reptile family, cold-blooded
  - indigenous to South Carolina and are found in lakes, swamps, and slow-moving streams
  - just as scared of people as barracudas are
  - large reptiles, members of the order Crocodylia
* are large, lizard-like reptiles with broadly rounded snouts
  - meat-eating reptiles that spend a lot of their lives in the water
  - leathers
  - like other reptiles
* are located in beachs
  - native only to the United States and China
  - nocturnal and feed primarily at night
  - one of the last living links with the dinosaurlike reptiles of prehistoric times
  - opportunistic feeders
  - part of nature too
  - patient predators
  - polygynous
  - predators they live by killing and eating other creatures
  - primarily nocturnal
  - raised commercially for their meat and skin, which is used for bags and shoes
  - reptiles, and they generally only eat once a week
  - sensitive indicators of lake health
  - similar in many respects to the closely related crocodiles
  - so fast a pet can vanish before it's owner can take a deep breath
  - social creatures and often stay in groups called congregations
  - survivors of prehistoric times
  - territorial especially during the breeding and nesting season
* are the largest reptiles in North America
  - permanent residents of China and United States
* are very common and are easily seen basking in the warm sun
  - similar to crocodiles, although generally less aggressive
  - successful hunters
* attack animals.
* avoid metabolically active temperatures in fall since prey are dispersed.
* bellow territorial warnings as mating begins.
* breathe by inhaling air into their lungs.
* build mounds.
* build their nests at the high-water level
  - from materials like twigs, leaves, and bark
* can be dangerous
  - subtle
  - digest bones, beaks and feathers
  - stay under water for up to an hour
  - withstand cold better than crocodiles
  - out in the early fall to warm up in the sun on the banks of Bluff Lake
* commonly bellow and roar at one another
  - prey on species that are smaller than their own size
* differ from crocodiles in several ways.
* dig holes that trap water
* eat a varied diet of insects, fish, shellfish, frogs, water birds, and small mammals
  - all kinds of animal
* eat small animals and objects
* feature a lower jaw that is thinner than the top one.
* feed in the evening, but they can attack at any time of day.
* feed on anything in the water or on land that they can catch and swallow
  - upon animals that visit the hole
* go into a reproductive cycle once a year and many tend to skip years
  - on four feet
  - under water into caves
* grow less the older they become.
* have a broad and rounded snout
  - short snout in comparison to the crocodile's long and pointed one
  - broader, more rounded snout while crocodiles have a narrower, more pointed snout
  - huge number of pathogens in their mouths
  - natural fear of humans
  - short, blunt and rounded snout
  - stumpy short snout
  - unique set of teeth
  - wide range of calls and vocalizations
* have an average lifespan of fifty years
  - overbite
  - broad, rounded snouts while crocodiles have long, nearly pointed snouts
  - broader heads and blunter snouts
  - energy requirements
  - heavy bone structure and massive skulls
  - jaws designed for ripping and tearing flesh rather than for chewing it
  - many instincts, such as to find food or mate
* have minimal energy requirements
  - no known predators, except man
  - plenty of teeth, but fewer show until the mouth is open
  - poor eyesight
  - ribs, and they are fairly large, curved affairs
  - semi-transparent membranes which cover their eyes when submerging under water
  - several adaptations for living near water, marshes, rivers and estuaries
  - shorter and wider snouts
  - to lift their heads out of the water to eat
  - tongues
  - valves in their ears and nostrils to keep water out
  - very small brains and act instinctively
  - weird innards
* help other Everglades animals by keeping water holes open.
* hide in burrows but they come out in the spring.
* hunt food from just before sundown to sunrise, so they are very active around dusk.
* includes brains
  - breasts
  - cells
  - chest cavities
  - faces
  - nuclei
  - sterna
* inhabit more areas of the United States than crocodiles do
  - most of the island's lagoons
  - rivers, swamps, estuaries, lakes, and marshes
* is low in sodium.
* lay eggs and the females exhibit advanced parental care
  - in nests near the water
  - hard-shelled, almost porcelain like eggs
* like to stay in the water.
  - freshwater lakes, rivers, and swamps
  - swampy areas, rivers, streams, lakes and ponds
* live in the southeastern United States
  - swamps and wetlands of the southeastern United States
  - longer in captivity than in the wild
* look docile and quiet when they are sunning.
* make good pets
* make their dens and nests along the wet banks of swampy rivers, bayous, and lakes
  - nests in the dense sawgrass, and swim in the murky water
* mate during the spring.
* mate in the autumn and spring, and females build their nest mounds in the early summer
  - spring, after emerging from hibernation
* mature at the age of ten to twelve and are six feet long.
* move around and frequently relocate.
* nesting is underway as females guard their eggs.
* often open their mouths when tapped lightly.
* overcome their natural shyness and become accustomed or attracted to humans when fed.
* play a vital role in wetland wildlife communities
  - an important ecological role during a drought
* play an important role in the Everglades ecosystem
* prefer to eat small animals that live on and around the water
  - stay off to themselves and are very illusive
* primarily hunt at dusk or during the night
  - inhabit fresh water
  - prey on smaller species which they kill with a single bite
  - nests from natural predators, like raccoons and opossums
* provide evidence for the evolution of an archosaurian mode of oviparity
  - more care for their young than do most reptiles
* ranching provides meat and skins without upsetting the balance of nature.
* range from central Texas eastward to North Carolina
  - inland throughout the southern coastal flatland
* regularly cruise the marshy shore.
* replace their teeth throughout their life.
* shake heads.
* skins are more expensive than crocodile.
* snap their jaws at almost anything.
* snapping turtles are the largest freshwater turtles in North America
  - can stay submerged almost an hour before coming up for air
* snapping turtles live in rivers whose water finally drains into the Gulf of Mexico
  - southeastern and extreme southern Missouri
* spend much of their lives in water.
* start their lives as eggs on a swampy shore and can live for several decades.
* sun themselves on banks of the hammocks and canals or glide through the waters.
* swallow their food whole.
* swim by moving their tails from side to side
  - underwater, walk on land, bellow, hiss, and prey on the less powerful
* tend to have a longer than average life span.
* use a similar method to control their body temperature
  - their tails and feet to swim
* usually prefer to hunt at night, so during zoo hours they are resting.
  - several hundred pounds
+ Alligatoridae, Alligators vs crocodiles
  * There are several differences between alligators and crocodiles. Alligators have shorter and wider snouts. They prefer fresh water to saltwater. Crocodiles have a gland that removes much of the salt. Alligators do not have this gland. In alligators, the fourth tooth of their lower jaw fits into a pit in the upper jaw. In crocodilians this tooth fits into a groove on the outside of the jaw.
  * They prefer fresh water to saltwater. Crocodiles have a gland that removes much of the salt. Alligators do not have this gland. In alligators, the fourth tooth of their lower jaw fits into a pit in the upper jaw. In crocodilians this tooth fits into a groove on the outside of the jaw. Alligators are also less aggressive than crocodilids. Usually only the largest of the species are a threat to humans.