Respiration

Air flows in one direction as it loops through the lungs of alligators. They must surface above water in order to breathe.

Circulation

The American Alligator has a closed circulatory system. During digestion, they divert blood through the left aorta which bypasses the lung.

Digestion

After catching their prey, alligators must be above water to swallow it or else their stomach. and lungs will fill with water. They are known to swallow stones which help digest prey. The crocodilian stomach is divided into two chambers. One is powerful and muscular. The other is mostly acidic.

Nutrition

They eat a wide variety of animals including invertebrates, fish, birds, turtles, snakes, amphibians, and mammals.

Food Getting

They have very strong jaws and sharp teeth for catching prey. Alligators have an adaptation in their throat called a glottis. This allows them to capture prey completely submerged in water.

Support

Alligators have an "armored" body with embedded bony plates called osteoderms. They are well adapted for life in the water with their powerful, muscular tail that helps propel them to swim.

Protection

Alligators have thick skin to protect them from the hot sun. Their thick skin can also protect them from vegetation when they are moving quickly to get a meal.

Movement

They have powerful tails they use to propel itself through water. They also have webbed feet to help them swim.

Osmotic regulation & excretion

Alligators powerful tails help them maintain water balance. Their urine contains a white deposit . They are ammono-uricotelic.

Temperature regulation

They are poikilothermic as well as heterothermic. Alligators are well camouflaged to hide while resting and hunting.

Reproduction

American alligators reproduce sexually. The female alligator will lay up to 45 eggs to give life to numerous young alligators. They will quickly form a pod near its mom.

Development

The female alligator builds a nest vegetation. She then lays her eggs in late June, early July and she covers it with vegetation and hatch after a 65-day incubation period. Towards the end of August, the young alligators begin to make high-pitch noises from inside the egg. Once they hatch, the newly hatched alligators live in small groups called "pods."