American Alligator - Alligator mississippiensis

During our April visit to east Texas we stopped several times at the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, not far from High Island. The highlight there is a great loop drive around "Shoveler Pond", not unlike the drive around the Colusa National Wildlife refuge in the Sacramento Valley. At Anahuac visitors are permitted to walk along the levees. As we rounded a bend on the route we spotted this imposing beast sunning along the shore. I got out of the car to take a photo, but kept my distance. Viewing and photographing through a scope certainly lowered any stress.

The American Alligator shown above was about 9 feet long, perhaps a male. They increase in size with age, and can reach 15+' in length and a weight of 1,000 pounds! Pretty common in fresh water habitats of Florida and other gulf coast states. The bulge below the mandible is a feature that varied from minute to minute, perhaps helpful with thermoregulation. A friend wrote that the sense prey from receptors on floor of the mouth, so maybe this one was checking the air the way a snake extrudes its tongue.