Transcript
Transcript of American Alligator (Alligator mississippiens)
SCIN 130 Power Point presentation by Serena L. Sobolewski
Introduction: The organism that I have chosen for this assignment is an animal, of the crocodilian family, called the American Alligator. The scientific name is Alligator mississipiens In Spanish it is is called El Legarto, meaning the lizard. The habitat preferred by the American Alligator is fresh water swamps, marshes, rivers, lakes, and occasionally smaller bodies of water, such as man-made retention ponds. The alligator range is from the southern Virginia/North Carolina border, along the Atlantic coast to Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico as far west as the Rio Grande in Texas.
I chose this organism because …show more content…
These creatures lurk near in or near the edge of the water waiting for prey to swim or walk by. the alligators can lunge up to five feet to rapidly grab hold of its next meal. Once an alligator captures something, it will hold it in its mouth and drag it underwater to drown it. It must then get back above water to swallow it -- otherwise, the alligator 's stomach and lungs would fill with water. Using its incredibly powerful jaws an alligator will break bones or crush shells to create a chunk of flesh that can fit down its throat. Then it will raise its head, open the palatal valve and swallow the piece whole. An alligator can digest anything it swallows -- muscle, bone, cartilage, etc. are all digested …show more content…
Although small prey is swallowed whole, large prey are subdued and dismembered. This maneuver is dramatically termed the `death roll '. The death roll is an example of a behavioral strategy referred to more generally as rotational feeding.
Body-rolling inertial feeding or rotational feeding is used by elongate vertebrates that lack specialized cutting dentition (The inability to cut food into smaller portions requires the American alligator to use mechanisms to remove manageable pieces from prey that are too large to consume whole. An alligator gets into a fight with another gator or even a human he will use the Death roll to overpower his opponent. This act is as much an eating technique than a killing technique. The alligator will sometimes wedge the prey between two pieces of stone and then roll with the prey in their mouth to secure bits of meat.
American alligators are also known to modify their environment by creating burrows. These are created using both snout and tail and are used for shelter and hibernation during freezing temperatures. If the water they live in dries out, alligators will swim or walk to other bodies of water, sometimes even taking shelter in swimming pools. Abandoned burrows are used by other animals for
Transcript of American Alligator (Alligator mississippiens)
SCIN 130 Power Point presentation by Serena L. Sobolewski
Introduction: The organism that I have chosen for this assignment is an animal, of the crocodilian family, called the American Alligator. The scientific name is Alligator mississipiens In Spanish it is is called El Legarto, meaning the lizard. The habitat preferred by the American Alligator is fresh water swamps, marshes, rivers, lakes, and occasionally smaller bodies of water, such as man-made retention ponds. The alligator range is from the southern Virginia/North Carolina border, along the Atlantic coast to Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico as far west as the Rio Grande in Texas.
I chose this organism because …show more content…
These creatures lurk near in or near the edge of the water waiting for prey to swim or walk by. the alligators can lunge up to five feet to rapidly grab hold of its next meal. Once an alligator captures something, it will hold it in its mouth and drag it underwater to drown it. It must then get back above water to swallow it -- otherwise, the alligator 's stomach and lungs would fill with water. Using its incredibly powerful jaws an alligator will break bones or crush shells to create a chunk of flesh that can fit down its throat. Then it will raise its head, open the palatal valve and swallow the piece whole. An alligator can digest anything it swallows -- muscle, bone, cartilage, etc. are all digested …show more content…
Although small prey is swallowed whole, large prey are subdued and dismembered. This maneuver is dramatically termed the `death roll '. The death roll is an example of a behavioral strategy referred to more generally as rotational feeding.
Body-rolling inertial feeding or rotational feeding is used by elongate vertebrates that lack specialized cutting dentition (The inability to cut food into smaller portions requires the American alligator to use mechanisms to remove manageable pieces from prey that are too large to consume whole. An alligator gets into a fight with another gator or even a human he will use the Death roll to overpower his opponent. This act is as much an eating technique than a killing technique. The alligator will sometimes wedge the prey between two pieces of stone and then roll with the prey in their mouth to secure bits of meat.
American alligators are also known to modify their environment by creating burrows. These are created using both snout and tail and are used for shelter and hibernation during freezing temperatures. If the water they live in dries out, alligators will swim or walk to other bodies of water, sometimes even taking shelter in swimming pools. Abandoned burrows are used by other animals for