What We Have Learned
Health & Relatedness
Health: Diet
- Alligators are opportunistic feeders and might try to ingest anything that moves.
- Ex. More insects and small prey observed in large animals than was expected.
- Ex. More insects and small prey observed in large animals than was expected.
- Availability of prey varies between habitats and season.
- Ex. Alligators in the swamp may focus more on hunting birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians while coastal alligators may enjoy marsh species like blue crab and shrimp.
- Ex. Some alligators learn to specialize on a prey item, like dragonfly larvae, snails, frogs, or minnows based on when these items are abundant.
- Ex. Alligators in the swamp may focus more on hunting birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians while coastal alligators may enjoy marsh species like blue crab and shrimp.
- Digestive rates of prey items varies greatly, and stomach contents are just a snapshot of what an alligator has actually been eating all year.
- Ex. Just because your stomach might have a cheeseburger or pancakes in it, doesn’t mean that’s the only thing you eat
- Ex. Just because your stomach might have a cheeseburger or pancakes in it, doesn’t mean that’s the only thing you eat
Click images to enlarge
Health: Ecotoxicology
- Generally, there is a positive relationship between mercury level and length of an alligator.
- In most cases, the longer the alligator the more mercury it has in its body. Additionally, mercury accumulates in alligators with age, a pattern that is generally true with other large vertebrates, including people. However, this is also based on feeding patterns, and an older animal with more fat stores can show gradual decreases in mercury with age.
- In the Okefenokee, the relationship is more correlated among juveniles compared to other habitat types.
- This trend is most reliable in younger alligators, after they reach a certain size the correlation between length and mercury levels becomes more variable as it is dependent on feeding habits.
- We know that heavy metal accumulation can be bad for the health of organisms, but most reptiles seems to handle higher loads better than mammals (humans) and birds.
Click images to enlarge
Tail Notches
Tail notch codes begin with the letter A where the single row of scutes begins.
The blue tag is placed in scute A. Scutes BCD are notched.
What are tail notches?
Tail notches are the section of the tail scutes that are removed as seen in the picture on the right.
Why tail notches?
Tail notches are an effective and humane way to permanently mark an alligator. These scutes will not grow back but other than the initial pain an alligator may feel during removal it will cause no other ill effects.
What is their purpose?
Tail notches serve two purposes 1) it is a way to permanently mark the alligator for long term identification 2) the scutes that are removed will serve as tissue samples for our genetic project.
What’s the blue tag?
The blue tag is an allflex tag that is most commonly used in the ear of cattle. It serves as an easier way to identify the alligator as the tail notches are not always easily seen. The downside of these colored tags is that they can fall off after a few years, which is why we also use tail notches
All photos by University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, unless otherwise noted.
