American+Alligator

__American Alligator (//Alligator Mississippiensis//) __ **Physical Description ** 

The adult male Alligator usually grows to be about 13 to 14.7 feet long and females reach about 9 feet. Alligators have a short and rounded snout unlike their cousins the crocodile. Alligators in captive seem to grow a more broad jaw then ones found in the wild.
 * Behavior **

These animals are very aggressive and territorial. Females will usually stay around the nest and watch it. They have certain mating rituals which involves a deep bellowing that vibrates long distances through the water. More of the Alligators rituals are head slapping and males will release musk from certain glands under their chins.


 * Diet **

The American alligator, at a young age, eat mainly insects, but as they grow up they start to eat things such as snakes, turtles, snails, slow-moving fish, small mammals, and birds. The American alligator is one of the best hunters in water. They are very adapted to the water because of them being cold-blooded.


 * Reproduction **

They lay around 45 eggs, the offspring is about 9 inches long at birth. They reach sexual maturity at the age of 7 to 12. They breed during the spring and then lay their eggs in a net in or near a marshy wetland to hatch.

**Habitat Range ** 

This animal is usually found in the southern United States reaching from North Carolina to Texas. This species lives in mostly swampy areas in the bayou and in rivers. They were added to the endangered species list about 4 years ago and are now at a low risk state. The estimate population is about 2 million and was estimated in 2009. History 

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Some things to save this animal should be things like people should put fences up around swimming pools so the alligators don't get inside and die because of chlorine. Another way is to use pesticides that only harm the insects that we want to kill. The purpose is so species that live on this planet do not go extinct because of us. The history of this act was mad by president Nixon who passed this law on December 28, 1973, the purpose was to protect species that are low in numbers.

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