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=American Alligator ( Alligator Mississipiensis)=

=Location and Natural Habitat= The American Alligators are found in Southern United States. Places like Alabama, Arkansas, North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. Their natural habitats are fresh water swamps, marshes, rivers, lakes, any location that has small bodies of water even though they can stay on land for a long period of time and can survive for months without water. In such locations, the American Alligators alter their habitat by creating "alligator holes" or burrows. These dens are always made in wetland or bordering water so, the location is under the bank of stream or lake.The holes are usually 4 to 6 feet in depth and with surface openings approximately 10 feet across. The gator holes are used when cold season occurs, that's where they retreat when the seasonal temperature goes down. Once the burrows dries, the American alligators finds another location where there are small bodies of water.



=Niche= The American Alligator's niche is a carnivore. The young alligators eats invertebrates of insects, small fishes, and frogs but as it grows older, the diet of the alligator increases. The adults eats nearly all aquatic preys that comes near them. What they usually eat are; fish, turtles, snakes, and small mammals. The climate requirements of the alligators are above 27 or 23 Celsius, they lose their appetite when the temperature is below 27 Celsius ( 80 Fahrenheit) and completely stop eating below 23 Celcius. Also, several species benefits from the presence of the alligators. For example, the modification of their habitat, the "Alligator holes" provides nests or habitat for another species like The Red-bellied turtle ( Chrysemys nelsoni). The relationship here is mutualism because 2 organisms benefits, the burrows creates nests for other organisms, however, the alligator might eat those that come to live in its burrow. The alligators are also the Key stone predators--they can affect the whole ecosystem, what they may do is control key competitors at the lower level of the foodchain which will reduce the diversity in an ecosystem. How old are they before they reproduce? well it would be before the female and male reaches sexual maturity which is when they are an average of 5.9 feet. Both males and females reaches sexual maturity stage when they are about 6 feet long, 10-12 years. Courtship usually starts in April when the temperature rises in spring then later the female lays between 35-50 eggs. The alligators don't display bonding nor associate in social groups, if drought occurs and they are forced to live together in tighter places then they just ignore each other. Also, during winters, the alligators are inactive and spend about 5 months (Oct. to March) in their holes, however, during summer months, they're heavy feeders. By the end of the summer, they store fats which sustains them during cold inactive months.

Population Status
The federal government listed the American Alligators as threatened because both American crocodiles and Alligators have similar appearances and the government did not want the hunters to confuse the 2 species. Also, because many hunts the American Alligators for their belly skin which can be made into a high quality leather, so this resulted hunting in the 20th century. Even when hunting was prohibited in Florida, there were still some illegal poaching in the 1970's. The Endangered Species act of 1973 was established, what is it? It is the act that prohibits any unauthorized taking, possessions, sale, and transport of endangered species; provides authority to acquire land for the conservation of listed species, and authorizes determination and listing of species as endangered or threatened.To tell which species are endangered VS threatened, the IUCN uses the following for species status: extinct, critically endangered like 50% of probability of extinction within 10 years, vulnerable or threatened with 10% probability of extinction within 100 years, and conservation dependent

=Conservation efforts=

The American Alligators are in the IUCN Red list (low risk, least concern). Their population made remarkable recovery over time in most areas due to proper controlled and monitored conservation. There are also large scale captive and wild sustainable programs that were established in several states like Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. The proper monitoring involves taking care of the gators until reaches maturity, ranching, and direct cropping of wild population ( of the eggs and also adults). The estimated population of the alligators are now 1,000,000. The increasing population even caused problems in some areas, "nuisance alligator" programs are to deal with them.

=Work Cited= Britton, Adam. "Alligator Mississipiensis" //Crocodilian Species List.// Hosted by Crocodile Specialist Group, Jan. 2009. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. 

McIlhenny, E.A. //The Alligator's Life History//. lllus. E.A. McIlhenny. Berkley: Ten Speed Press, 1987. Print.

Pajerski, Lauren, and Benjamin Schechter. "Alligator mississippiensis.". //Animal Diversity Web.// the Interagency Education Research Initiative, the Homeland Foundation and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 1995-2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2009. .