Alligators are absolutely amazing animals. They have been around for millions of years and are about as close as humans will ever get to seeing a living dinosaur. So how and why have they survived so long? They are nearly perfect animals for their environment, including U.S. Florida, Georgia, Alaba­ma and Louisiana. Alligators are one of the few reptiles today that care for their young. Alligators have vibration sensors on their skin that are extremely sensitive -- they can detect even the slightest vibration and get out of harm's way long before it arrives. On the other hand, alligators can be quite dangerous. They are instinctual living machines. An alligator's brain weighs only 8 or 9 grams and would take up only one-half of a tablespoon. This lack of brain power means there is no such thing as a "nice alligator." If it's hungry, an alligator will eat anything that moves.

Pets and children who wander near an alligator pond are frequent victims of this instinctive behavior. In this order are 23 different species, including the American alligator, Caimans and a variety of crocodiles. The basic Crocodylia body form has been around for over 180 million years, making alligators and crocodiles living dinosaurs. Females are, on average, about 8 feet long and weigh about half as much as male alligators. Males can actually get much larger -- 1,000 pounds is not unusual. At the Alligator Adventures alligator park in Myrtle Beach, SC, a very large crocodile named Utan weighs in at 2,000 pounds and is almost 20 feet long. But the title of largest crocodile alive goes to a saltwater crocodile living in Green Island, Prime Boosts Pills Australia. Alligators are fresh-water animals and can be found in lakes, ponds, rivers and irrigation canals. Because they are cold-blooded reptiles, alligators are not big fans of cold weather.

This limits their range to the warmer, wetter areas in the southeastern United States from Texas to North Carolina. While there are reports of one alligator, held in captivity, that lived to be well over 100 years old, something like 40 years might be a more typical old age for alligators living in the wild. For example, alligators are armor-plated. Bony plates inside the skin, called osteoderms or scutes, make the skin very hard to penetrate. When you look at the ridges on the back of an alligator, each little spike is made by a piece of bone in that section of skin. Click here to see a photo of typical osteoderms. For comparison, the fastest humans running at world-record times in a 100 meter dash, are running about 20 MPH (32 KPH), but a typical adult human is no faster than an alligator. This makes it possible for an alligator to escape from most situations on land and get into the water.

Alligator eyes have two sets of eyelids. The outer lids are like human eyelids. They are made of skin and close top-to-bottom. The inner lids are clear and close back-to-front. While an alligator Prime Boosts Official is sitting about or swimming, these inner eyelids protect the alligator's eyes and provide clearer vision in the underwater environment. When swimming underwater, alligators are water tight. Flaps close off the ears and nostrils, the inner eyelids protect the eyes and a special flap called the palatal valve closes at the back of the throat to keep water out of the throat, stomach and lungs. Alligators can stay underwater for quite a while. A typical dive might last 10 to 20 minutes. In a pinch, an alligator can stay underwater for two hours if it is at rest. And, in very cold water, an alligator can last up to eight hours submerged. ­Since alligators are cold-blooded, they have very small lungs compared to mammals.