American CrocodileHer question: What is the difference between alligators and crocodiles?
The answer was provided within a few keystrokes from Ask.com. All you have to do is type in your questions, complete with the question mark. I typed in the question exactly as stated above and found an answer from the San Diego Zoo.
There are 3 areas of difference between the croc and alligators.
1) Jaw-shape: Alligators have wide, U-shaped jaws. Crocs have narrower, V-shaped ones.
2) Teeth: The alligator has a lower canine tooth on each side of their jaw that is visible, sticks out, when their jaws are closed. A croc does not have this.
3) Habitat: Alligators tend to live in freshwater areas, while Crocs choose salt-water areas more, because they have a very active and useful salt-disposal gland on their tongues.
Florida AlligatorMaddie then asked, "well, what eats an alligator?"
The answer to that is quite interesting. These animals (both crocs and alligators) are considered apex predators of the food chain, that is, there are no other predators on them except for humans.
This was found on a wiki site, thus I'm not 100% sure it's the best answer that's out there, surely a more detailed one exists. However, while searching for the answer, it was my assumption.
Thanks to Maddie, today has been a learning day.
Keep 'em coming. I love these types of questions. I can find the answers!
4 comments:
There have been some instances of very large pythons eating small alligators down in Florida. The snakes are native though. They're exotic pets that have been set free or got loose from a pet store, etc.
Thank you for posting the information. Having just returned from Florida where we saw both baby and adult alligators, we had wondered the same questions. Timely blogpost for us! I'll have to post a picture of baby gators Dad took at Connie's Twin Eagles sales office pond.
Chalupa's comment convinced me to leave my own little morsel of knowledge. Crocs tend to have interlocking teeth. Whereas alligators have a distinct overbite - their lower teeth are hidden except for the canine mentioned by Lana.
And here's one more detail that I heard on TV the other, while they were discussing the differences.
Crocodiles will stalk and eat humans. Alligators will not.
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