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DIET: Younger alligators eat insects, shrimps, snails, small fish, tadpoles and frogs. Adult alligators eat rough fish, snakes, turtles, small mammals, and birds.Once a week is a typical feeding schedule for alligators living in the wild. Excess calories are stored in fat deposits at the base of the alligator's tail. The american alligator gets its food by hunting in the everglades in the water. American alligators hunt predominantly at night. If large prey is captured, they drag it underwater, where it is drowned and devoured. Additionally, American alligators have an adaptation in throat called a glottis. This allows them to capture prey completely submerged in water.
HABITAT: The American alligator is found in the United States from North Carolina to the Rio Grande in Texas. Alligators are usually found in freshwater, slow-moving rivers. They also live in swamps, marshes and lakes. They can only tolerate salt water for brief periods because they do not have salt glands. In many freshwater swamps in the southeastern United States, cypress and tupelo trees grow. Spanish moss may hang from the branches, and tiny plants called duckweed may cover the waters surface. Shrubs and bushes may grow beneath the trees. Animals like white-tailed deer, minks, raccoons, pileated woodpeckers, purple gallinules, egrets, herons, alligators, frogs, turtles, and snakes are often found in cypress swamps. The american alligator is the apex predator of the Everglades. The monthly mean temperatures range from 63 °F (17 °C) to 82 °F (28 °C) with rare winter frosts. Rainfall averages 40 to 65 inches (1,000 to 1,650 mm) annually, most coming between May and October. The american alligator is not invasive anywhere.
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