Well-known Villages photographer Ron Clark spends a lot of time watching alligators here in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown. He’s put together some fun facts about alligators:
• Life span is 30-50 years
• They have 74-80 teeth in their mouths at any given time. As they wear down or fall out they are replaced. They may go through up to 2,000 teeth in a lifetime.
• Alligators have been observed using lures to attract bird. They balance sticks and branch’s on their heads to attract birds looking for nesting material.
• Female alligators are devoted moms. They build the nest to lay eggs and stay near it for up to 65 days, the incubation period, protecting them from predator’s. When they are ready to hatch they make high-pitched noises from inside the egg. Mom then digs them out and carefully carries them in her jaws to the water.
• The sex of the baby alligators is determined by the temperature during incubation. Temperatures 93F and above will produce males and under 86F will produced females. Temperatures in between will produce either sex.
• Alligators make lots of sounds. They can hiss, bellow and growl. Courtship rituals include head slapping on the water, blowing bubbles, and bellowing very loudly.
• And they can reach speeds of 20 miles per hour in the water and up to 35 miles per hour on land. They do tire quickly.
