American Alligator Research Paper

Common name:American alligator
Alligator mississippiensis (Daudin, 1802) http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/Animals/Reptiles/Crocodiles-Alligators/American-Alligator.aspx

Taxonomy:
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Genus: Alligator
Species: A. mississippiensis

Description
The American alligator has a large lizard-like body and short legs. They also possess a muscular tail. They are covered by a scaled, rough hide. Adults have a dark colour, while young ones are black but have yellow blotches and stripes. They are mostly found in fresh water. Unlike crocodiles their fourth tooth is hidden, because they have an internal socket on the upper jaw. The grown-up female is 3
Female alligators are not widely distributed while male alligators are well distributed, they are found in a variety of regions.When the mating season comes, both female and male are in vast ranges to mate (Webb, Conway, Calkins, and Duguay, 2009). Alligators are carnivores, but they eat more than just meat. They can eat from sticks to fish (Webb, Conway, Calkins, and Duguay, 2009). The alligators hunt prey during the evening; they snap their prey and gulp down the whole prey (Webb, Conway, Calkins, and Duguay, 2009). When alligators are making an attack, they camouflage and launch a surprise attack on their
Males thunder and roar to draw in the females (Saalfield, Conway, and Calkins, 2011). It is common for males to stick their heads out of the water and aim at their preyneck as a target (Webb, Conway, Calkins, and Duguay, 2009). Their mating framework is polygynous, and they achieve development at 6 feet (Webb, Conway, Calkins, and Duguay, 2009). Mating happens in April and May (Webb, Conway, Calkins, and Duguay, 2009). After mating, the female form a home in the vegetation, and around late June and early July they lay from 25-50 eggs (Webb, Conway, Calkins, and Duguay, 2009). The eggs are secured in vegetation and require around 65 days to hatch (Saalfield, Conway, and Calkins, 2011). The sex of the offspring is determinedby the incubation temperature: if the temperature is below 30 degrees Celsius, the offspring will be mostly females. However, the temperature is above 34 degree, most offspring’s will be male. Temperatures that are within 30-34 degrees will result into an equal number of both