What is a alligator

The alligator is the largest reptile of the United States. (Snakes, lizards, and other crawling, egg-laying animals are reptiles.) The alligator looks like a big lizard, but it is not a lizard. It is related to the crocodiles, but has a broader snout and a bigger tail. It spends most of its time swimming, or sunning itself on shore.

A fully-grown male alligator may be as much as 13 to 16 feet long and may weigh up to 500 pounds, but most of them are smaller—up to 10 feet long for males, and 7 or 8 feet for females. This includes the tail. An alligator's tail is about as long as his body. Alligators live in freshwater streams in the southern part of the United States, from North Carolina to Texas. Once they were thought to live to be 100 years old, but actually 20 to 30 years is closer to it. The alligator is one of the few reptiles that have voices. It can bellow or roar loudly. Female alligators build nests of leaves and other material that they scrape up along the shore.

They lay up to 38 eggs, 2 to 3 inches long. The young alligators are 8 to 10 inches long when they hatch, and grow about a foot a year at first, then more slowly. Young alligators are often captured as "pets," but this is very foolish. They seldom live in captivity, and if they do they soon become dangerous. An alligator eats other animals. It captures them, drowns them in the water, then swallows them. Alligators are timid and seldom attack men, but if they do they are dangerous. They often swing their big, strong tails in fighting. Some men like to risk death by riding on the backs of alligators. The greatest value of alligators is that their skins make very fine leather.