American alligator
Amazing fact
American alligators bite very large prey and spin their bodies to tear off pieces.
Smithsonian's National Zoo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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American alligators bite very large prey and spin their bodies to tear off pieces.
THE REAL WORLD
The real American alligator
- Scientific name
- Alligator mississippiensis
- Japanese name
- ミシシッピーワニ（アメリカアリゲーター）
- Group
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Crocodilia
- Family
- Alligatoridae
- Genus
- Alligator
A crocodilian that lives in slow-moving rivers, swamps, marshes and lakes in the southeastern United States.
Its nostrils sit on top at the end of its long, rounded snout, so it can breathe while the rest of its body stays underwater.
The female builds a nest of plants. The young call out with high-pitched sounds from inside their eggs to tell their mother it is time to open the nest.
How the American alligator lives
They mate at night in shallow water. They seize prey with sharp teeth and swallow small prey whole. They have periods of dormancy when the weather turns cold.
Smithsonian's National ZooBasic data
- Size
- females average 2.6 m, males average 3.4 mSmithsonian's National Zoo
- Lifespan
- about 50 years in the wildSmithsonian's National Zoo
- Diet
- Fish, snails and other invertebrates, birds, frogs and mammalsSmithsonian's National Zoo
- Range
- Southeastern United States鳥羽水族館
Where the American alligator has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 简体中文
- 美国短吻鳄
- 繁體中文
- 美國短吻鱷
- 한국어
- 미시시피악어
- Español
- Aligátor americano
- Français
- Alligator d'Amérique
- Deutsch
- Mississippi-Alligator
- Português (Brasil)
- Jacaré-americano
- Italiano
- Alligatore del Mississippi
- العربية
- قاطور أمريكي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Aligator Amerika
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá sấu mõm ngắn Mỹ
- Русский
- Миссисипский аллигатор
- Türkçe
- Amerika aligatoru
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ミシシッピーワニChecked: 2026-11-03
- Smithsonian's National Zoo — American alligatorChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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