The American Alligator - Part Three
by Keith A. "Bootlegger" Williams
Alligators have incredibly honed senses. Their hearing is impeccable, and able to detect almost unnoticeable sounds from great distances, and their eyesight is comparable to that of an owl. In daylight their eyes are yellow in color and pupils appear as vertical slits, and can be readily found in the dark as an orange-red reflection in a spotlight. The skin just under the eyes has a yellow coloration which helps to bounce light back into them, similar but opposite to the way a football player may apply dark lines under his eyes to keep reflections to a minimum. Their eyes have a thin layer of cells that collect and reflect light for extreme low light vision capability. They also feature binocular vision for more accurate focusing and depth perception which makes them extremely accurate at ranging a potential meal from a distance. An alligator is able to pinpoint and fix a potential victim’s position and not have to see it again prior to the attack. Another tool in the alligator’s arsenal is that the area around its jaws is covered with thousands of vibration sensors which allow it to detect anything which enters or disturbs the water in all directions. When you combine this with the knowledge that they can stay under water for up to two hours at a time without having to surface for air, and have the ability to lower their heart rates to stay under for more than 8 hours in cold weather, this quickly makes for a formidable predator.
Alligators are usually seen either remaining still for long periods of time, or barely moving along at speeds that frequently cause the casual viewer to lose interest… and that could turn out badly. Although the speed of an alligator has been the object of much debate over the years, a safe answer that most everybody can agree on is that they can achieve bursts of speed of over 10 miles per hour for short distances. While this may not seem all that fast on paper- it would be deceptive to think of it as slow or cumbersome. Alligators have small lungs and are not well suited to periods of exertion, nor is it well designed to run its food down over long distances. They are well aware of this however, and have adapted their hunting strategy quite nicely to work around this. Alligators have a special valve that closes off the throat and allows them to catch prey underwater, if needed but often prefers to grab victims as they veer too close to the water’s edge. They can remain motionless for long periods and then lunge forward and accelerate to that top speed immediately from a dead stop with little or no warning, and with the efficiency of a mouse trap. Potential prey is not limited to the land or water, either, since alligators can also propel themselves out of the water to a height of up to ten feet, to catch unsuspecting creatures on logs or overhanging limbs. After biting, the preferred strategy of capture is to drag the victim underwater and drown it. Due to its massive strength, this method requires very little effort to be expended. The next move would be to then shake its head violently from side to side or do a maneuver in what is often referred to as a "death roll" to tear loose smaller pieces at a time that are easier to swallow. The impressions left by the alligator’s teeth resemble lines of evenly spaced holes, and this action is comparatively similar to "tearing on the dotted line" to remove a sheet of writing paper from a pad or spiral notebook. An alligator’s jaw pressure can snap closed with as much as 2,000 pounds per square inch, but are not really designed for chewing. To get around this, it will sometimes wedge a carcass under a log jam and wait for it to begin to rot, in order to easily remove more manageable pieces. There is no immediate demand to get in any particular hurry, as its slow metabolism allows it to go for over a year without eating again.
Oddly, it is the alligator’s resistance to damage that almost led to its demise. Starting in the 1950’s the demand for exotic leather products made from the alligator’s thick skin resulted in it being hunted to the verge of extinction, and by 1967, it was classified as an Endangered Species. From then until 1987, it was totally off limits to hunting, but they quickly recovered until soon their numbers were rising again like the proverbial Phoenix, throughout the South. Today, there are so many that several states now offer a limited amount of regulated hunting permits to be issued for them. Some areas are literally crawling with an overabundance of the prehistoric reptiles, although they still remain in a protected status.
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