American alligators are found in the southeast United States: all of Florida and Louisiana; the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi; coastal South and North Carolina; East Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma, and the southern tip of Arkansas. Louisiana has the largest alligator population. [20] The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators in each state. Southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side. [21] [22] Morgan, G. S., Richard, F., & Crombie, R. I. (1993). The Cuban crocodile, Crocodylus rhombifer, from late quaternary fossil deposits on Grand Cayman. Caribbean Journal of Science, 29(3–4), 153–164. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-29 . Retrieved 2014-03-28. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link) Hale, Amber; Merchant, Mark; White, Mary (May 2020). "Detection and analysis of autophagy in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis )". Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 334 (3): 192–207. doi: 10.1002/jez.b.22936. ISSN 1552-5007. PMID 32061056. S2CID 211122872. a b Dundee, H. A., and D. A. Rossman. 1989. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

Functioning salt glands: Crocodilians have modified salivary glands called salt glands on their tongues, but while these organs still excrete salt in crocodiles and gharials, those in most alligators and caimans have lost this ability, or excrete it in only extremely small quantities. [60] The ability to excrete excess salt allows crocodiles to better tolerate life in saline water and migrating through it. [60] Because alligators and caimans have lost this ability, they are largely restricted to freshwater habitats, although larger alligators do sometimes live in tidal mangroves and in very rare cases in coastal areas. [60] American Alligator and our National Parks". eparks.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04 . Retrieved 2016-05-01. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . Retrieved 2018-10-25. Most of the muscle in an alligator's jaw evolved to bite and grip prey. The muscles that close the jaws are powerful, but the muscles for opening their jaws are weak. As a result, an adult human can hold an alligator's jaws shut bare-handed. It is common to use several wraps of duct tape to prevent an adult alligator from opening its jaws when being handled or transported. [32]The genus Alligator belongs to the subfamily Alligatorinae, which is the sister taxon to Caimaninae (the caimans). Together, these two subfamilies form the family Alligatoridae. The cladogram below shows the phylogeny of alligators. [8] [9] Alligatoridae Grigg, Gordon; Kirshner, David (2015). Biology and Evolution of Crocodylians. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 9781486300662. Large male alligators are solitary territorial animals. Smaller alligators can often be found in large numbers close to each other. The largest of the species (both males and females) defend prime territory; smaller alligators have a higher tolerance for other alligators within a similar size class.

Delany, Michael F; Woodward, Allan R; Kiltie, Richard A; Moore, Clinton T (20 May 2011). "Mortality of American Alligators Attributed to Cannibalism". Herpetologica. 67 (2): 174–185. doi: 10.1655/herpetologica-d-10-00040.1. S2CID 85198798. Fish, Frank E.; Bostic, Sandra A.; Nicastro, Anthony J.; Beneski, John T. (2007). "Death roll of the alligator: mechanics of twist feeding in water". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 210 (16): 2811–2818. doi: 10.1242/jeb.004267. PMID 17690228. S2CID 8402869. Main articles: Alligator farm, Alligator meat, and Alligator leather Edward H. Mitchell, "The Joy Ride" at the California Alligator Farm, Los Angeles, California, c. 1910s Janke, A.; Arnason, U. (1997). "The complete mitochondrial genome of Alligator mississippiensis and the separation between recent archosauria (birds and crocodiles)". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 14 (12): 1266–72. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025736. PMID 9402737.Like other crocodilians, alligators have an armor of bony scutes. The dermal bones are highly vascularised and aid in calcium balance, both to neutralize acids while the animal cannot breathe underwater [54] and to provide calcium for eggshell formation. [55]