American alligator
Alligator is a crocodilian in the genus family Alligatoridae. This term is both a common name (see Alligator (animal)) and a scientific name.
box jellyfish description:
The American alligator is an important "keystone" species of the Southeast. Alligators use their tails to dig burrows in mud for nesting and to keep warm. When an alligator abandons a burrow, the hole left behind fills with freshwater and is utilized by other species for breeding and drinking. If alligators are removed from their native ecosystem, it would affect countless other species.
A cousin of the alligator, the American crocodile, is very rare in the U.S. and only a few thousand individuals live on the southern tip of Florida. To tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile, look at the mouth. Alligators have a wide, round snout, compared to the long, thin mouth of the crocodile. Crocodiles also have two large teeth that stick out when their mouth is closed.
American Alligator Facts:
The alligator became the official state reptile of Florida in 1987.
The alligator family includes the American and Chinese alligators and all caimans. Spanish sailors visiting the New World thought the unfamiliar alligator was a huge lizard. In Spanish, el lagarto means the lizard. English sailors took the name as allagarter and in time it has become alligator.
Alligators are hunted mostly for their skins, but also they are hunted for meat. Today, there is a multi-million dollar industry in which alligators are raised in captivity for the production of meat and skin. Also, alligators are a tourist attraction, especially in Florida, where visitors enjoy feeding them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment