Chinese Alligator

The Chinese alligator, Alligator sinensis, also called the Yangtze alligator, is a crocodilian endemic to China and one of only two living species in genus Alligator alongside the American alligator, though substantially smaller, measuring 1.5 to 2.1 meters and weighing 36 to 45 kilograms as an adult. It is dark gray or black with complete body armor, including its belly, a distinguishing feature from its American relative, along with a more robust skull, a short broad snout with a bony septum between the nostrils, bony plates on the upper eyelids and a notably wide tail. It inhabits freshwater wetlands and ponds in transitional subtropical-temperate zones, its range now severely restricted to six counties in Anhui Province, and is critically endangered, its wild population having fallen from about 1,000 in the 1970s to fewer than 130 by 2001 before captive breeding helped it recover to roughly 300 by 2017.