It was an ordinary day. Reading a story about alligators and crocodiles. Trying to determine how you can tell the difference between the two. Guess it really doesn't matter if what is approaching you in the river where you are swimming is a crocodile or an alligator. Both can do quite a bit of damage to you if they care to. I can still remember when my wife and I took a vacation to Sanibel Island, Florida and took a day trip to ride an airboat in the Everglades of Florida. Wasn't long before the pilot of the airboat was slowing down for a few alligators, or perhaps crocodiles, that we're approaching. The boat slowed as the driver tossed some food to the menacing animals as we all watched in amazement at the size of these creatures who looked as if they might try to enter the boat. The Florida Everglades is the only place on earth in which both alligators and crocodiles coexist. These airboat drivers know exactly what they can and can't do to keep from provoking these big monsters of the swamps. I for one didn't ask if I could try and feed them that day! Just looking at the long green snout and pair of eyeballs floating just about the surface of the swamp is enough to scare just about any newcomer to the Everglades. The experience was priceless, as they say, but I'm still not sure if what we saw were crocodiles or alligators. The crocodile is the older of the two according to Herodotus, the Greek historian who wrote about it during the fifth century, B.C. He described a type of lizard that liked to lounge on the pebbly banks of rivers, so its name was created by combining "kroke" (meaning gravel or pebbles) and "drilos" (meaning worm) or the large river reptile we know today as the crocodile. The Greek "krokodilos" became the Latin "crocodilus" which more than likely became the English crocodile. Sound like a good explanation? But no, since in Medieval Latin the word got mixed up a bit, becoming the English crocodrillus which became the French crocodile which is the form that worked its way into English. The English eventually spelled it as cokedrille, cocodril and kokedrille. Never read why it ended up as crocodile, but I guess it doesn't matter anyway. As for the word alligator; at about the same time in history Spanish explorers in the New World were finding large lizards in the rivers and swamps north of the Gulf of Mexico. They called this monster "el algarto de Indias" or the lizard of the Indies. Eventually it was made into a single word and called a "aligarto." Then along came a Mr. Samuel Johnson who wrote a dictionary and who modernized the word to be "alligator." And his definition of "alligator" was a "crocodile."
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| Is this a crocodile or an alligator? Read on... |
So is the alligator a crocodile? Depends whom you talk to it seems. The two differ mainly in the snout where the alligator has a wide, rounded, u-shaped snout, and the crocodile has a long, pointed, v-shaped snout. The crocodile also has an upper and lower jaw that are the same size which exposes their teeth as the jaws interlock, creating the look of a toothy grin. The alligator's upper jaw overlaps its lower jaw. Now, when confronted while swimming, by this large beast, do you really think you will take the time to see which one has the jaws that match and which one has overlapping jaws? The alligator is definitely dangerous, but is relatively timid compared to the crocodile, while on the other hand, the alligator is much more bad-tempered and far more likely to attack humans, even unprovoked. The Australian saltwater crocodile is considered the most dangerous in the world, followed by the Nile crocodile. Both reptiles are huge in size, especially when you are in the water with them.  |
| Might his chart help you? |
The Alligator can grow to between 10 to 15 feet in length, weighing about 500 pounds while the crocodile can reach 2,200 pounds and grow to 14 to 17 feet in length. And, what's just as impressive is the fact that they both can run about 11 miles per hour on land. Both can hold their breath for up to an hour with eyes on the top of their heads which make it hard to surprise them. Both are great hunters after dark, with night vision being one of their attributes. Today there are 15 species of crocodiles and 8 species of alligators. As far as being the most feared...the crocodile has more bite strength with 3,700 pounds per square inch while the alligator has a bite strength of 2,900 pounds per square inch. So, if you happen to be confronted while swimming by an animal that you are not sure if it is a crocodile or alligator, pray that it isn't either since you more than likely won't survive if it is one or the other. You may survive if it is a very young animal...which will be my story for tomorrow. Tune in! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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