LOCATION: Meet and Greets, Creature Feature Extreme

COMMON NAME: American Alligator
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Alligator mississipiensis
SIZE: 8 to 11 feet long and 800 pounds to over a ton
RANGE: Southern United States
HABITAT: Lakes, marshes, ponds, swamps, rivers, creeks, canals
DIET: Fish, turtles, snakes, water birds and small mammals
INTERESTING FACT: Spanish sailors thought the alligator to be a large lizard and so named it "el lagarto," meaning "the lizard."  English sailors took the name as allagarter and in time it has become alliagtor.