American
alligator
I
Lehr Brisbin, Jr.
Brisbin@srel.edu
Savannah
River Ecology Laboratory, P O Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802
Like other crocodilians, the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)
is one of the last living remnants of the ancient Archosaurian reptiles
that ruled the earth during the age of the dinosaurs. It is one of the
most
prominent members of the southeastern herpetofauna and has been studied
extensively at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Normally tropical or subtropical,
alligators occupy the coastal plain of the southeastern
United States, and a few scattered individuals occasionally appear north
and inland from the fall line. Although alligators occur as far north
as the North Carolina coast, the SRS represents the northernmost inland
extension of the species’ range in South Carolina. SRS alligators,
therefore, must occasionally face colder temperatures than any other naturally
occurring crocodilians in the world. When their aquatic habitat freezes,
SRS alligators either become semidormant in subterranean dens or move
into shallow water, where they maintain small breathing holes in the ice.
Alligators reach a length in excess of 3.7 m (12 ft) and a weight of 150
kg (325 lb). At 3.92 m (12 ft 9 in), an alligator from Par Pond on SRS
was one of the largest ever recorded in South Carolina.
SREL
Reprint #2918
Brisbin, I.L., Jr. 2005. American alligator. p. 285-289. In Threatened and Endangered Species. In Ecology and Management of a Forested Landscape: Fifty Years on the Savannah River Site, edited by J.C. Kilgo and J.I. Blake. Island Press.
