Alligator and Crocodile Gifts

Sizes & Ages of these Big Lizards

• American alligators have an average weight of 800 pounds and are about 13 feet long.
  
  There is a record of an alligator at a zoo that lived to be 75 years old.

• Crocodiles can be found in a variety of sizes, from the dwarf crocodile, which grows to be about 3 to 5 feet long, to the saltwater crocodile which can reach more than 15 feet long and weigh well over 2,600 lbs..
  
  There is a crocodile at the Australia Zoo in Queensland that is estimated to be 130 years old.

Crocodiles and Alligators

What's in a Name?

• The name alligator comes from el lagarto, the Spanish term for "lizard" and was named by the early Spanish explorers and settlers in Florida.

• Crocodile comes from the Ancient Greek word crocodilos, which means "lizard".

Two Kinds of Alligators...

Twenty-Three Kinds of Crocodiles

• There are only two kinds of Alligators - The American Alligator, native to and found throughout the southeastern United States, with more than one million alligators each in the states of Florida and Louisiana.
  
  The Chinese Alligator is found only along the Yangtze River and is so endangered (with only a few dozen believed to be left in the wild) that far more Chinese alligators are found in zoos.

• Crocodiles live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side.

• Check out CROCODILIANS: Natural History & Conservation for information on all 23 species of crocodiles.

What Do Crocs and Gators Eat?

• Alligators with its wide snout, have more crushing power and can eat prey like turtles, along with fish and small mammals.

• Crocodiles eat fish, birds, mammals and occasionally smaller crocodiles.