Comments on: Mystery Saltwater Alligator?

By: dawgvet

dawgvet — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:08:04 +0000

I have seen plenty of alligators in salt water and brackish rivers of south Georgia. On Wassaw island, I heard about a big gator who lived in the interior in the freshwater ponds but would walk along the beach.

Reports of an alligator on a beach doesn’t seem that unusual to me.

By: Alligator

Alligator — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:37:37 +0000

The species on the east coast of Africa and Madagascar is the Nile Crocodile. The one in Australia is the Estuarine or Saltwater Crocodile. Both large, both notorious for including humans on the diet. The Niles will enter saltwater but don’t seem to be quite as “seagoing” as their eastern cousins. Historically Salties were found in the Seychilles Islands eastward to Vanatau in the Banks Islands and north from Australia to the southern tip of China. Of course, now the range is much reduced, the main population concentration being Australia and New Guinea.

By: dogu4

dogu4 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:19:17 +0000

Appreciate the perspective from the experts.
Considering that the current sea level and coastlines are now a few hundred feet higher than what they were back during the pleistocene, I suppose that fossils from that period are not common, but I wonder if the fossil record of the not too distant past reveals anything about the potential for these species to grow to the legendary proportions sometimes cited in oral histories.
Also, bearing in mind the modern molecular approaches, I wonder if the species that inhabits the east coast of Africa is the same as the species in Australia.

By: Alligator

Alligator — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:38:30 +0000

Courage said
“HAHA if you got one of our crocs over there you’d know about it really quickly. American Alligators are like puppies.”

No argument here!

“Anyway .. 2 things.

1)What stops an Alligator from going into salt water? Our crocs happily go from Salt to fresh”

Crocodiles posses lingual salt glands, which allow their bodies to excrete significant amounts of salt. This is especially developed in Salties. Alligators have rudimentary lingual glands but cannot excrete the salt, hence they shun the saltwater environment.

2) Do Alligators lift them selves up to walk (no belly drag?) our cros only do that when running.

Yes they do. I’ve seen them walk and run fully standing.

JackSparrow said
“They’ve been seen swimming out to sea right up through the whole Sth East Asia region.”

Salties have been known to swim 1000 km at sea and have been found with barnacles on their scales. This ability has allowed them to have one of the widest distributions of any crocodilian species in the world.

By: Know it all

Know it all — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:22:26 +0000

The American Crocodile has been implicated in a number of human fatalities South of Florida where it attains a length of 6 to 7 meters.

I do recall a report from the 1st half of the 20th century of an American hunter shooting a 4 or 5 meter American Crocodile in Florida and being killed by it as it grabbed the hunter’s thorax as he attempted to land the beast. (Dangerous to Man - Caras (?))

By: courage

courage — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:27:41 +0000

HAHA if you got one of our crocs over there you’d know about it really quickly. American Aligators are like puppies.

Anyway .. 2 things.

1)What stops an Aligator from going into salt water? Our crocs happily go from Salt to fresh

2) Do Aligators lift them selves up to walk (no belly drag?) our cros only do that when running.

By: JackSparrow

JackSparrow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:20:21 +0000

Anyone who has ever visited the Northern half of Australia can tell a story about seeing tracks on a beach. Salties aren’t scared to swim out to sea looking for food. Most beaches up that way warn people not to sleep there at night as the salties come ashore. They’ve been seen swimming out to sea right up through the whole Sth East Asia region.You can just be glad your Alligators for the most part shy away from people over here salties put humans up there with fish,roos and pigs as a food source.

By: Alligator

Alligator — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:52:35 +0000

Florida 1948 - 2005

Alligator Attacks = 351 Alligator Deaths = 16

No crocodile injuries or attacks. However

American Crocodile attacks are recorded in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala though rare.

A handful of examples exist of alligators being found in a saltwater environment. My money is on young male crocodiles seeking to establish a new territory. Historically they were found as far north as Tampa Bay on the west and Lake Worth on the east.

By: battlekow

battlekow — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:59:19 +0000

“Hord said there’s never been a reported case of a bite by an American crocodile on a human.”

In the US, anyway…

By: bray_beast

bray_beast — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:37:40 +0000

Crocodiles don’t get enough attention. The MonsterQuest about crocodiles was probably the best one besides sasquatch attack 1. 15 foot crocodiles in the U.S.!!? Neato!