Friday, January 6, 2012

Nervous System

  • Consists of the bain and the spinal nerve chord
  • Small cerebral hemispheres
  • 8-9 gram brain is much smaller than thos4e of a mammal

Skeletal/ Muscular System


  • The alligator has a very complex muscular system, but the two main contributers are in the jaw and the tail
  • The jaw muscles allow it the open and close in a fast agressive way to trap any size prey
  • The tail muscles allow them to swim up to 25mph
  • Alligators have two rows of teeth for an effedtive bite
  • There are bone plates inside the skin on their back (scutes) that make the skin hard to penetrate
  • Alligators also have webed feet halp them swim
  • Although alligators are fast and dangerous in water they are very slow on land, but still very dangerous

Digestive System

  • The digestive system of the alligator is short and simple
  • In their mouth they have many rows of teeth, but they are not used for chewing, they're used for trapping and seizing prey
  • Their stomach consists of two parts, the gizzard and the digestive section
  • the gizzard has gastroliths to help digest food in the stomach and also works as a buoyancy controller
  • The food then passes through the intestine to the cloaca
  • Since alligators don't have a bladder their urine and wast exist through the cloaca which is an opening to the outside of their body

Circulatory System

  • Closed Circulatory system
  • First of ll organ systems to become functional during development
  • Transports respiratory gasses, nutrient, and metabolic wate
  • Maitains homeostasis in connection whit the kidneys

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Interestin Facts

  • The average alligator can live up to 35 years in the wild and 50 yeas in captivity
  • They have no vocal chords
  • They can survive for 2-3 years with out eating
  • The average alligator brain weighs 8-9 grams
  • The eyes of a large alligator will glow red and those of a smaller one will glow green when a light is shined on them.
  • According to the Everglades National Park website, the largest alligator ever recorded in Florida was 17 feet 5 inches long.
  • The largest alligator ever recorded measured 19 feet 2 inches and was found on Marsh Island, Louisiana.
  • The American Alligator is one of the very few animal to have been saved from the endangered specis list.
  • Scientists believe alligators are more than 150 million years old
  • The alligator’s name comes from  the Spanish term, “el lagarto”, which means, "the lizard".

Skin

  • The alligator consists of oblong horny scales arranged in rows, parallel to the body
  • Bone plates inside skin called scoutes make skin hard to penetrate
  • Vibration sensors help detect the slightest vibrations to escape danger or react to prey

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Genus: Alligator
Species:Mississippiensis

Respiratory system

  • The surface area of the lungs form into sections with small pockets for better gas exchange
  • They breath by changing the volume of the body cavity
  • As the muscles contract the volume of the body cavity increases forcing oxygen into the lungs
  • When the the muscle contract again the body cavity reduces forcing carbon dioxide out of the lungs

Reproduction

  • Reproduce in the spring
  • Start breeding at 8-10 years old
  • The male attracts his mate by bellowing to his "water dance"
  • The males perform a "water dance" by keeping their head and tail above water while their mid section is slightly submerged
  • As the male makes a bellowing noise his scales vibrate forcing the water to sprinkle around him
  • The females find vegetation, sticks, leaves, and mud to build nest to lay their 20-50 large eggs
  • The temperature of the eggs determine the gender of the offspring
  • The mother stands by her eggs for the 65 day incubation period
  • When the young are ready to hatch they make a croaking noise, and their mother will dig them out of the nest
  • When the young are hatched they have yellow bands around their bodies and survive off of yolk masses in their stomachs for the first couple days
  • A baby alligator only stays with its mother for about five months before living on its own

A video of a "water dance"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2TouHucolQQ&NR=1