Taken by Gareth Rasberry, Huntington Beach State Park, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, USA
Date 26 July 2013, 16:18:06
Author Gareth Rasberry
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Alligator_eating_Blue_Crab_2.JPG

The American alligator or gator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a large crocodilian reptile endemic to the southeastern United States. It is one of two living species in the genus Alligator within the family Alligatoridae; it is larger than the other extant alligator species, the Chinese alligator. American alligators are found in the wild in the southeastern United States, from the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, south to Everglades National Park in Florida, and west to the southern tip of Texas. They are found in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Alligatoridae
Genus: Alligator
Species: Alligator mississippiensis (Daudin, 1802)
Synonyms: Crocodilus mississipiensis Daudin, 1802