American Alligator

36 Pages·2007·0.727 MB·English

by  Susan H. Gray,Harold K. Voris

ROAD TO RECOVERY
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21st
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Skills Library
ROAD TO RECOVERY
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Susan H. Gray
Cher r y Lake Publishing
Ann Ar bor, Michigan
Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, MI
www.cherrylakepublishing.com
Content Adviser: Dr. Harold K. Voris, Curator and Head, Amphibians and Reptiles,
Department of Zoology, The Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois
Copyright ©2008 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Please visitwww.21stcenturyskills.org for more information.
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C H A P T E R O N E
Getting the Girl 4
C H A P T E R T W O
An Alligator’s Life 7
C H A P T E R T H R E E
Alligators in Danger 16
C H A P T E R F O U R
Things Get Better 20
C H A P T E R F I V E
Safe for Now 25
Map 29
Glossary 30
For More Information 31
Index 32
About the Author 32
CHAPTER ONE
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Alligators blow bubbles under the water as part of their mating ritual.
A
huge male alligator heads for the water. The weather is warming up,
and he’s looking for a mate. He hauls his 900-pound (408-kilogram) body
into the swamp and bellows with all his might. Three females take notice,
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and one swims toward him. The male slowly lifts his 21
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head, tilts it back, then slams it down onto the water. ontent
The river was so
The enormous splash sends water, frogs, and twigs
crowded with alligators
that “it would have
flying everywhere. been easy to have
walked across on
their heads.” So wrote
the U.S. naturalist
and explorer named
William Bartram in the
1770s. Bartram was
in Florida, studying
the plants and animals
of the St. Johns River.
He could not believe
how many different
flowers, birds, and
fish lived there. But
he was especially
impressed with the
alligators. Only two
counties on Earth have
alligators: the United
States and China. The
Chinese alligator is
also endangered.
To attract a mate, this alligator raises his neck out of the water.
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This is just what the female is looking for. She
earning
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&
nnovation paddles up alongside the male and bumps him
Skills
Alligators are cold-
with her snout. He rubs his throat along her back.
blooded animals. This
does not mean that
their blood is cold. It Then they take turns lowering their heads and
means that their body
temperature goes up
blowing bubbles underwater. It’s spring and time for
and down with the
outside temperature.
What effect do you courtship in the swamp.
think the weather
has on the alligator’s
behavior?
Alligator courtship takes place in areas of open water.
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CHAPTER TWO
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Nostrils at the top of the head allow an alligator to breathe
while it is almost completely submerged in the water.
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lligators have roamed swampy areas of North America for millions of
years. In fact, scientists believe they lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.
These animals are survivors.
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Alligators prefer to live in still water.
Today, American alligators (scientific name Alligator mississippiensis)
live in wet lowlands in the southeastern United States. They can be found
in lakes, swamps, marshes, and slow-moving rivers. They do not live in the
salty water of the ocean.
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