Native to the southeastern United States

American alligator

Alligator mississippiensis (Daudin, 1802)

Data updated October 2026

Adult American alligator floating in still water with a small yellow-banded hatchling resting on its head
Fig. 1 — An adult in shallow water with a hatchling on its head. Young are dark with yellow crossbands.
Side view of an American alligator head with a broad snout and upper teeth showing
Fig. 2 — The broad, rounded snout of an adult.

At a glance

A large, broad-snouted crocodilian of freshwater wetlands in the southeastern United States. Once hunted close to extinction, it has recovered across its range. Large males can exceed 13 feet.

01

Identification

Adults are dark gray to nearly black, with a broad, rounded snout. Rows of bony plates run down the back and tail. Hatchlings and young are black with bright yellow crossbands, which fade as they grow.

  1. 01Broad, rounded snout. Wide and U-shaped when seen from above.
  2. 02Dark armored body. Gray to black with rows of raised bony plates.
  3. 03Yellow-banded young. Juveniles carry yellow crossbands on a black body.

Commonly confused with

02

Size

04 ft8 ft12 ft16 ft20 ft Average adult male · about 11 ft (3.4 m)

Males grow much larger than females. Adult males average about 11.2 feet (3.4 m) and females about 8.2 feet (2.6 m); females rarely exceed 10 feet. Florida’s longest recorded alligator was a male of 14 feet 3½ inches (4.36 m). The heaviest weighed 1,043 pounds (473 kg).

03

Range & habitat

American alligator basking on a grassy bank beside a marsh with reeds
Fig. 3 — An alligator basking on the bank of a marsh.

American alligators range from southeastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas east to North Carolina and Florida. They live in freshwater lakes, slow rivers, marshes and swamps, and sometimes in brackish water. They cannot stay in salt water for long because they lack salt glands.

Alligators dig “gator holes” and tunnels in banks, which can run as long as 65 feet (20 m). These hold water in dry seasons and give shelter in cold weather.

04

Diet & predators

Young alligators eat mainly insects, amphibians, small fish and other invertebrates. Adults take fish, snakes, turtles, birds and small mammals that come to the water’s edge. Small alligators are eaten by raccoons, otters, wading birds, fish and, most of all, larger alligators.

Feeds on

  • Fish
  • Turtles and snakes
  • Birds
  • Small mammals

Preyed on by

  • Larger alligators
  • Raccoons (eggs and young)
  • Otters
  • Wading birds and large fish
Bald cypress trees standing in dark swamp water
Habitat — cypress swamp.
Alligator hatchling resting on an adult’s head
Young — at risk from many predators.

05

Behavior & seasons

Alligators are cold-blooded and slow down in cool weather. In winter they become dormant in dens or deep water but do not truly hibernate. In spring, males roar to attract females and warn off rivals.

06

Reproduction

In Florida, courtship begins in early April and mating takes place in May or June. In late June or early July the female builds a mound nest of soil and plants and lays an average of 32 to 46 eggs. The temperature inside the nest decides whether the young become male or female. Eggs hatch after about 63 to 68 days, from mid-August to early September.

Few young survive. About a third of nests are lost to raccoons or flooding. From an average nest of 38 eggs, about 24 hatch, about 10 live to one year, and about 5 reach adult size. Most alligators mature at about 6 to 7 feet long: males at 8 to 12 years and females at 10 to 15 years.

07

Conservation

Hunting once brought the alligator close to extinction. With legal protection it recovered and is now considered a conservation success story, listed as Least Concern. Federally it is still listed because it looks similar to the threatened American crocodile. This keeps protections in place while allowing state-managed harvest and nuisance-control programs.

Keep reading

Sources

Data updated October 2026 · How we build these pages