Alligators and Caimans: Alligatoridae - Physical Characteristics, Diet, Behavior And Reproduction, Conservation Status, American Alligator (alligator Mississippiensis): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, CAIMANS ALLIGATORS AND PEOPLE
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Depending on the species, alligators and caimans may live in Central America, Mexico, the southeastern United States, South America, and/or eastern China.
Alligators and caimans are freshwater species that prefer still or slow-moving water, even if it is muddy or murky. Besides lakes, rivers, and streams, they are often found in swamps, marshes, and roadside ditches. Seven of the eight species live in the New World, which includes Central, South, and North America, but only one lives in the United States. The eighth species makes its home in a small area of eastern China, which is part of the Old World.
People sometimes hunt alligators and caimans for their skin, their meat, and sometimes for their organs, which are used to make perfume. In Florida, Louisiana, and other places, they are an important tourist attraction and help bring in money to the local community.
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Like crocodiles, the alligators and caimans have a heavy body, with the back and tail covered by armor-like scales. Crocodiles, alligators, and caimans have a strong tail, which is at least as long as the rest of the body, and the back half of the tail often has a row of tall, ridged scales along the top. They also have a long snout, hind limbs larger than the front legs, and large, powerful jaws …
Alligators are meat-eaters, though they are anything but fussy about their prey. Youngsters will dine on snails and other invertebrates (in-VER-teh-brehts), which are animals without backbones. As they grow, they switch to the adult diet, which includes fishes, birds, small mammals, and other vertebrates (VER-teh-brehts), which are animals with backbones. They will also sometimes attack and devour…
A favorite daytime activity for alligators and caimans is sunbathing, or basking, on shore. They can also heat up their bodies by floating in the warm, upper surface of the water. When they need to cool off, they simply sink to colder, deeper water. Some live where the weather is especially cold at times during the year, but none of them actually hibernate (HIGH-bur-nayt), or become inactive and e…
Physical characteristics: A large reptile, the American alligator has a black or dark grayish green back and tail with a white belly. Young alligators have numerous yellow markings on the back and tail. American alligators are sometimes confused with American crocodiles, but the crocodile has a snout that becomes thinner at the tip. The alligator's snout remains wide. Adult American alligat…
Physical characteristics: Also known as the spectacled caiman, the common caiman has a bony ridge and slightly lighter color around each eye. Its body is greenish to brownish gray, sometimes with noticeable dark bands on its tail and patches on its back. Adults usually grow to 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) long, but some can reach up to 10 feet (3 meters) from the tip of the snout to the end of …
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User Comments
10 months ago
kindra
this website was compleatly uninformative and a total waste of time
10 months ago
kindra
this website was compleatly uninformative and a total waste of time
about 4 years ago
why do alligators have armor like scales?