An alligator will only show the teeth on top. In the United States, both alligators and crocodiles tend to be shy and timid. This is similar to most reptile and lizard species. However, you should always keep a safe distance from them. Most crocodiles come in shades of green, grey, brown, or black. They usually have a mottled or speckled pattern which helps them to blend in with algae and substrate.
American crocodiles are normally slate grey and have a white to yellow underside. This dark and light coloration is called countershading. It allows them to blend into the water while on the hunt. Other species of crocodiles come in different shades, depending on the colors of their environments. The Nile crocodile comes in deep green and brown speckles that match the substrate of the Nile River. The American alligator is a shiny dark green that can look almost black in certain lights.
It is much darker color than a crocodile. Crocodiles tend to live in open water areas with much more algae. Because of this they are usually going to come in greener shades to match. Alligators tend to stay near the banks of rivers and lakes. Their colors are designed to blend in with the mud and the substrate. Most crocodiles are larger than alligators. The saltwater crocodile is the largest and can reach lengths of up to 23 feet.
The American crocodile reaches a maximum length of 20 feet, but is usually between 15 and 17 feet. It weighs anywhere from to just over pounds. Male alligators reach an average length of between 12 and 13 feet and can weigh up to pounds.
Females are between 8 and 10 feet and weigh in at to pounds. An American croc is larger than an alligator by about 4 to 6 feet on average. However, it can be difficult to eyeball the size of an animal when seen from a distance. For this reason size is one of the hardest ways to identify each species. When you first see a crocodilian, the snout should be the first thing you look at if you want to know what it is.
Snout and jaw shape are the easiest way to tell the difference between alligators and crocodiles. Their jaws also close from the top-down, rather than from the bottom-up. If you look closely, you will see five of its bottom teeth. Notches in their bottom jaw hide the bottom teeth when their mouth is shut.
Of course, you do not want to get close enough to a croc or a gator to be able to see their teeth! Crocs have an incredible bite strength of about psi. This is why their teeth are cone shaped rather than pointed. Their bite strength is about psi. Crocodiles and alligators both have dome pressure receptors on their skin. These receptors allow them to regulate water pressure when swimming and detect ripples in the water.
The dome pressure receptors of a crocodile are translucent and scattered all over their body. This is one of the reasons they swim better in open water when compared to gators. Crocodiles also have salt glands on their tongues, which allow them to osmoregulate in high salinity areas. Alligators do not have any salt glands. Most species of crocodile live in marshes and wetlands alongside rivers and lakes. Sometimes they may venture out into fast-moving streams, rivers and channels because they are able to live in salty waters.
Alligators normally live closer to the shore. Their natural habitat is mostly swamp lands, lakes and low flow areas of rivers. They are not able to live in saline waters. Both species are cold blooded, but crocodiles need a higher temperature to survive.
Like a shark , a crocodilian never runs out of teeth, sharp new ones are always growing in as the old dull ones fall out, most of the time lost in some lovely piece of croc-chow. As you can imagine, there are many differences between the three families of crocodilians, especially between alligators and crocodiles.
As a general rule of thumb goes; crocodiles have longer, V-shaped snouts, whereas alligators have shorter, U-shaped snouts. Another notable difference between crocodiles and alligators is the visibility of the teeth on the bottom jaw.
This means that the upper teeth interlock with the lower teeth when the mouth is closed. In fact — there is well-defined space in the upper jaw, behind the nostrils, for this lower fourth-tooth to slot into, making it always visible. These tiny dots are called Dermal Pressure Receptors or DPRs , which are capable of detecting small pressure changes in water to help them locate and capture their prey. Although both crocodiles and alligators have them covering their faces, crocodiles have similar organs covering the skin on their entire bodies whereas alligators do not.
Regardless of what they are for, they are a great and easy way to tell crocodile skin apart from alligator skin! Because of this alligators often prefer freshwater habitats, whereas crocodiles tend to favour more saline habitats. However, it has been known for large alligators to sometimes wonder into estuaries, and rarely coastlines. Alligators only naturally reside in America and India , whereas crocodiles reside naturally over much more of the world.
Yet crocodiles tend to live in lighter colored waters, making a lighter skin-tone more suitable as camouflage. On a side-note: young alligators can be more colorful, sometimes having white or yellow highlights on their black bodies.
Crocodiles have functioning salt glands on their tongues, although not obviously noticeable, they can be seen when crocodiles bask in the sun out of water with their mouths open. Now these are just modified saliva glands that allow crocodiles to excrete large amounts of salt from their surroundings, such as the water they are in. This means a crocodile can tolerate more salty water than an alligator, such as tidal estuaries, coast-lines, and even the sea itself in some species!
The upper and lower jaws of the crocodile are essentially the same width, with the teeth exposed in an interlocking pattern. They also have a large, protruding fourth tooth on the lower jaw that is accommodated by depressions in the upper jaw just behind the nostrils.
The alligator, however, has a wider upper jaw, allowing the lower teeth to fit into it snugly, effectively hiding them from view. Only the teeth of the upper jaw are exposed along the lower jaw line.
Alligators and crocodiles are also slightly different colors. The typical crocodile tends to have a coloration that is an olive brown hue.
Alligators usually have a darker, almost black appearance. Crocodiles and alligators are also found in different locations around the globe. Both crocodiles and alligators do well in environments that feature slow moving rivers with grasslands located adjacent to the river banks. Crocodiles live in parts of North, Central, and South America, and can be found in areas of Africa, Australia, and the southeast part of Asia.
Alligators are native in the eastern section of China and the southern area of the United States, and are most common in states along the Gulf Coast. The lingual salt glands in crocodiles allows them to be more at home in salt water than alligators.
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