The American Alligator: Common on the Alabama Gulf Coast

The American Alligator is native only to the Southeastern United States. On the Alabama Gulf Coast it inhabits canals, lagoons, lakes, ponds, creeks, swamps, marshes and even drainage ditches. If there's fresh or brackish water standing near the coast, an alligator has probably been there.

In 1938, Alabama became the first state to protect alligators from being hunted and trapped. In 1967, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added the American alligator to the Endangered Species list. By 1987, the alligator population had sufficiently recovered to the point where it could be removed from the endangered list. Since that time their numbers have increased each year. The present population in the Southeastern United States is estimated at 5 million.

Alligators have grown quite accustomed to living among humans, and the fact that they get used to us being around sometimes presents problems. Because an alligator doesn't seem to be bothered by our presence, some might assume that it can be trusted. That's certainly a misconception. That alligator that comes around every morning for a hand-out can be extremely dangerous, and you can't blame the alligator because it operates on instinct. An alligator's brain only weighs about 3/10 of an ounce. If it's hungry, it doesn't know that a pet, child or an adult's foot isn't anything that he shouldn't grab.

Alligators don't hunt; they lurk in wait and then lunge at amazing speed. An alligator's normal diet consists of rodents, fish, turtles, birds, and small mammals. An alligator usually doesn't look for food but once a week. In hibernation, it doesn't eat at all.

Some little know facts about the American alligator:

• At rest, an alligator can stay underwater for two hours.
• In very cold water an alligator can stay under water for up to eight hours.
• Alligators are not sluggish on land. For short distances they can reach eleven miles an hour (about as fast as the typical adult human can run.)
• Alligator eyes have two sets of lids.
• Alligators care for their young - unusual for reptiles.
• Alligators are water tight when they want to be.
• ­Alligators can survive freezing conditions, even when frozen in ice.
• Alligators can survive up to three years without eating.
• Though the average adult alligator might be half that size, the largest alligators can reach 18 feet in length and weigh 1000 pounds.
• Alligators lay eggs, usually 35 to 50 but sometimes as many as 90.
• American alligators have a lifespan of 50 years in the wild.
• Once an alligator reaches 4 feet in length, the only predators that will harm it is humans and other alligators.

Alligators are not hard to find near Gulf Shores. If you want to see one in the wild, two good places to look are the lakes at Gulf State Park and Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. But they often show up where you would least expect to see one. Several waterfront restaurants have alligators that regularly hang out, waiting on somebody to feed them. Golf course and neighborhood ponds are other places where alligators swim. Another place you might want see an alligator is Wade Ward Nature Park

Maybe the best way to see alligators, along with other wildlife, is to find a good guided tour. Some tour operators will take you into thee back bays and canals where the "really wild ones" hang out.

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