American Alligator

The American alligator is a large reptile native to the southeastern United States, found in freshwater rivers, lakes, swamps and marshes, most famously across Florida and Louisiana including the Everglades. It has a broader, more rounded snout than its crocodile relatives and dark, almost black skin, and adult males can grow to around four metres in length. American alligators are apex predators of their wetland ecosystems, feeding on fish, turtles, birds and mammals, and they play an important ecological role by digging deep depressions called gator holes that hold water during dry periods and provide refuge for many other species. Once endangered due to unregulated hunting for its hide, the species recovered so successfully under legal protection that it was removed from the endangered species list in 1987 and is now considered a major conservation success story.