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About 1/3 of alligator nests are destroyed by predators (mainly raccoons) or flooding. The average clutch size of an alligator nest is 38. For nests that survive predators and flooding, an estimated 24 live hatchlings will emerge. Only 10 alligator hatchlings will live to one year. Of these yearlings, 8 will become subadults (reach 4 feet in ...
Feb 22, 2023 · While Florida is known as the Sunshine State, it's also home to many alligators. An estimated 1.25 million alligators live in the state among the 5 million across the southeastern United States ...
Apr 18, 2024 · In Florida, alligators have mostly inhabited the state’s wetlands, lakes, rivers, and swamps for many centuries. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says that they are found in all 67 counties. Most of the alligator-infested lakes in the U.S. are located in Florida. The water bodies in Florida that contain alligators are Lake ...
- Florida Alligator Facts
- 10 Florida Alligators State Records
- Unofficial Captures of Largest Alligator in Florida
- Why Are Some Possible Record Alligators Not Certified?
- Could There Be Bigger Alligators Out there?
- Legends of Giant Alligators in Florida
- Alligator Hunting
- Human Interactions with Alligators in Florida
- Threats to Alligator in Florida
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Alligator Distribution
The American Alligator is only found in the Southeastern United States, in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, And North and South Carolina. For the most part, you’ll find them in freshwater lakes, slow-moving rivers, swamplands, and brackish wetlands. At one time, the American Alligator was considered an endangered species, but tight regulations have allowed the species to rebound into populations in the millions, leading to them no longer being cons...
Alligator Sizes
Typically, full-grown alligators average between ten and fifteen feet (3 to 4.6 meters) in length, with most peaking around eleven feet (3.35 meters) in length. Males grow larger than females, with females rarely growing to be over ten feet (3 meters) in length. Despite myths that they grow during their entire lifetimes, alligators actually stop growing once they reach sexual maturity between ten and fifteen years old, their growth rate slows dramatically. By age forty, they stop growing enti...
Alligator Life Cycle
Alligators reach sexual maturityaround the time they reach seven feet (2.1 meters) in length. For females, this can take around 10-15 years, while males reach this length in 8-12 years. Females build and guard nests and lay between 32 to 46 eggs at a time. The survival ratefor baby alligators is easily considered low. Of the eggs laid in a nest that dodges predators and flooding, about 24 will hatch. Only ten of those hatchlings survive beyond the first year of life, and only five of those te...
Trying to record records for the largest alligators is complicated. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission only recognizes records that have been measured and confirmed by state biologists. You’ll find plenty of stories about excessively massive alligators if you even scratch the surface of what the biggest ones ever found were. The problem is th...
For a variety of reasons that we’ll explain later, there are plenty of alligators that are caught but not verified by the state. There are also plenty of eyewitness accounts that can’t be verified. Here is where we’ll discuss a few of those.
There are plenty of reasons why alligators aren’t certified by the FWC, and despite what some people think that doesn’t mean the numbers were exaggerated or it was a hoax. For one, alligators spoil incredibly quickly after they die. In fact, state regulations for processing plants require butchering to begin within four hours of an alligator’s deat...
There could always be bigger gators out there. We know from keeping captive alligators that with enough food and space they can reach sizes of around fifteen feet (4.5 meters). In the wild, the chances are really slim, however, a literal freak of nature gator could feasibly get to sizes over fifteen feet (4.5 meters). Even given that concession, th...
The records for alligator sizes in Florida only go back to the 1980s, mostly because that’s when harvesting programs were implemented by the FWC. Legends and stories of massive alligators go back for centuries, from Native American legends to sightings by field scientists. Ned McIlhenny, a conservationist, came across what could be the largest alli...
Alligator hunting is a part of much of the Southeast’s culture. The swamps of Florida and Lousianna are famous for it, even spawning shows like Swamp People on the History Channel. In Florida, the FWC gives out around 7,000 tags each year in a lottery for the public. This is part of the statewide alligator harvest program, allowing hunters to take ...
People and alligators have depended on the same lands and resources as long as they’ve lived in the same areas. It’s a conflict that humans win almost every time. In Florida, only seven unprovoked alligatorattacks occur per year on average. Alligators walking across a golf course, popping up in neighborhoods, and even being found in swimming pools ...
The biggest threat to alligators is humans. At one point, we had hunted the American Alligator to near extinction. Thanks to hunting regulations and pauses in hunting, the species is no longer endangered. People hunt alligators for both their meat and skin, as the skin is desirable for leather clothing and accessories. Today, much of the demand for...
Discover different species found in Florida here: Wild Monkeys In Florida | Poisonous Frogs In Florida | Anoles In Florida | Birds Of Florida | Vultures In Florida | Woodpeckers In Florida | Hawks In Florida | Florida Freshwater Fish | Florida Frogs | Scorpions In Florida | Geckos In Florida | Florida Spiders | Lizards In Florida | Owls In Florida ...
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Photo exhibit on alligators in Florida from State Archives of Florida; Why the Gulf Coast needs more big alligators; Alligator bellows and hisses Archived March 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine – sound clips from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; View the allMis1 genome assembly in the UCSC Genome Browser
Apr 8, 2019 · With an estimated 1.3 million alligators in Florida, the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is warning the public to be aware of the increase in alligator activity this time of ...
May 26, 2019 · Florida residents know that we share the state with a large alligator population — an estimated 1.3 million to be exact! And while that can be scary, alligators are fundamental to the state's ...
