American Alligator - Alligator Mississippiensis
Habitat	A characteristic resident of the great river swamps, lakes, bayous, marshes and other waters of Florida and the Gulf and Lower Atlantic, Coastal Plains.
Ecological Niche	Alligators eat almost anything that strays too close to them, such as raccoons, muskrats, snakes, birds and turtles. They snap up small prey and swallow it whole. Larger prey is dragged underwater and drowned and ripped into large chunks. The only predator of an adult alligator is man.
Life Cycle	The mating season of the american alligator is from April to May. A female may lay 25 to 60 eggs in a pile of rotting vegetation and mud. She then covers the eggs with more rotting vegetation to incubate them. The eggs hatch within 2 to 3 months.
Behavior and physical adaptations	The american alligator is the largest of all members of the crocodile family in North America. It has an extremely muscular tail used to propel itself through water. The tail accounts for half of the length of the alligator. They are solitary except when the female has young to care for. American alligators weigh between 450 to 500 pounds at maturity.