Alligator Gonna Eat ya!

Crocodiles in water lie in wait with most of their body concealed underwater, until their prey approaches, and then rush out in attack. Combining their appearance, size¸ weight, ferocity and speed and surprise element in attack leave even larger prey with no hope of escape.

Sobek, also known by a variety of names, was worshipped to gain protection and strength. Sobek has been depicted as either a man with a crocodile head or a full crocodile wearing a headdress and carrying a scepter, the symbol of authority, and an ankh, the symbol of life.

Ancient Egyptians were known to both worship and hate crocodiles, often killing them.

The preoccupation of the Egyptians with the afterlife is apparent in the amount of effort which went into preparing bodies for the grave and in the construction of tombs and the pyramids.

The Nature of SobekIn the Book of the Dead, he is depicted with a number of crocodiles believed to torment the souls in the underworld.

Sobek is a god whose nature is ambivalent. He was worshiped by some to gain his protection. He was a god of fertility and rebirth, creator of the Nile and through his depiction as a crocodile was a god symbolic of the strength of the Pharaoh. These worshipers must have seen some benefit in their supplications and therefore considered him a benign god

Other who feared and killed crocodiles must have felt him to be an onerous god, one only to be feared.

Perhaps, modern man cannot fully understand the true nature of Sobek in the cosmology of the ancient Egyptians. The fact that so many reliefs, statues, and writings include him just indicates an acknowledgement by the people of the pervasiveness of the crocodile in their world.

Sources:

Pope, Joyce (2001). Crocodile: habitats, life cycles, food chains, threats Austin : Raintree Steck-Vaughn. ISBN: 0739831275

Wilkinson, Richard H.(2003),The Complete Gods and Godesses of Ancient Egypt. New York : Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0500051208.

Although primarily freshwater animals, alligators will occasionally venture into brackish water. Alligators live in wetlands and this is the vital habitat that holds the key to their continued long-term survival. Alligators depend on the wetlands, and in some ways the wetlands depend on them. As apex predators, they help control the population of rodents and other animals that might overtax the marshland vegetation.

American alligators are less susceptible to cold than American Crocodiles. Unlike the American Crocodile, which would quickly succumb to the cold and drown in water of 45 °F (7.2 °C), an alligator can survive in such temperatures for some time without apparent discomfort. It is thought that this adaptiveness is the reason why American alligators spread farther north than the American Crocodile. In fact, the American alligator is found farther from the equator and is more equipped to deal with cooler conditions than any other crocodilian.

The American alligator is a rare success story of an endangered animal not only saved from extinction but now thriving. State and federal protections, habitat preservation efforts, and reduced demand for alligator products have improved the species' wild population to more than one million and growing today.

One look at these menacing predators—with their armored, lizard-like bodies, muscular tails, and powerful jaws—and it is obvious they are envoys from the distant past. The species, scientists say, is more than 150 million years old, managing to avoid extinction 65 million years ago when their prehistoric contemporaries, the dinosaurs, died off.

American alligators reside nearly exclusively in the freshwater rivers, lakes, swamps, and marshes of the southeastern United States, primarily Florida and Louisiana.

Heavy and ungainly out of water, these reptiles are supremely well adapted swimmers. Males average 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.6 meters) in length and can weigh 1,000 pounds (453 kg). Females grow to a maximum of about 9.8 feet (3 meters.)

Hatchlings are 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) long with yellow and black stripes. Juveniles, which are on the menu for dozens of predators, including birds, raccoons, bobcats, and even other alligators, usually stay with their mothers for about two years.

Adult alligators are apex predators critical to the biodiversity of their habitat. They feed mainly on fish, turtles, snakes, and small mammals. However, they are opportunists, and a hungry gator will eat just about anything, including carrion, pets and, in rare instances, humans.

An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator(Alligator mississippiensis) and the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis).

The name alligator is an anglicized form of el lagarto, the Spanish term for "lizard", which early Spanish explorers and settlers in Floridacalled the alligator.

Alligators have a variety of successful adaptations to their ecological niche that have allowed these reptiles to remain almost unchanged for 200 million years.