Mark W. J. Ferguson; Ted Joanen (1982). "Temperature of egg incubation determines sex in Alligator mississippiensis". Nature. 296 (5860): 850–853. Bibcode: 1982Natur.296..850F. doi: 10.1038/296850a0. PMID 7070524. S2CID 4307265. Berlin WW2 bombing survivor Saturn the alligator dies in Moscow Zoo". BBC News. 23 May 2020 . Retrieved 17 July 2020.

Hastings, A. K.; Bloch, J. I.; Jaramillo, C. A.; Rincon, A. F.; MacFadden, B. J. (2013). "Systematics and biogeography of crocodylians from the Miocene of Panama". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (2): 239. Bibcode: 2013JVPal..33..239H. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2012.713814. S2CID 83972694. Brochu, C. A. (2011). "Phylogenetic relationships of Necrosuchus ionensis Simpson, 1937 and the early history of caimanines". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163: S228–S256. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00716.x. Reilly & Elias, Locomotion In Alligator Mississippiensis: Kinematic Effects Of Speed And Posture and Their Relevance To The Sprawling-to-Erect Paradigm The Journal of Experimental Biology 201, 2559–2574 (1998) Alligators and caimans split in North America during the early Tertiary or late Cretaceous (about 53 million to about 65 million years ago). [4] [5] The Chinese alligator split from the American alligator about 33 million years ago [4] and probably descended from a lineage that crossed the Bering land bridge during the Neogene. The modern American alligator is well represented in the fossil record of the Pleistocene. [1] The alligator's full mitochondrial genome was sequenced in the 1990s. [6] The full genome, published in 2014, suggests that the alligator evolved much more slowly than mammals and birds. [7] Phylogeny

Farmer, C. G.; Sanders, K. (January 2010). "Unidirectional Airflow in the Lungs of Alligators". Science. 327 (5963): 338–340. Bibcode: 2010Sci...327..338F. doi: 10.1126/science.1180219. PMID 20075253. S2CID 206522844. Alligators generally mature at a length of 1.8m (6ft). The mating season is in late spring. In April and May, alligators form so-called "bellowing choruses". Large groups of animals bellow together for a few minutes a few times a day, usually one to three hours after sunrise. The bellows of male American alligators are accompanied by powerful blasts of infrasound. [37] Another form of male display is a loud head-slap. [38] In 2010, on spring nights alligators were found to gather in large numbers for group courtship, the so-called "alligator dances". [39] a b Keenan, S. W.; Elsey, R. M. (2015-04-17). "The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown: Microbial Symbioses of the American Alligator". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 55 (6): 972–985. doi: 10.1093/icb/icv006. ISSN 1540-7063. PMID 25888944. Grigg, Gordon; Kirshner, David (2015). Biology and Evolution of Crocodylians. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 9781486300662. Large male alligators are solitary territorial animals. Smaller alligators can often be found in large numbers close to each other. The largest of the species (both males and females) defend prime territory; smaller alligators have a higher tolerance for other alligators within a similar size class.

Like other crocodilians, alligators have an armor of bony scutes. The dermal bones are highly vascularised and aid in calcium balance, both to neutralize acids while the animal cannot breathe underwater [54] and to provide calcium for eggshell formation. [55]International Food Information Service (2009). IFIS Dictionary of Food Science and Technology. John Wiley & Sons. p.15. ISBN 978-1-4051-8740-4. Answers to Some Nagging Questions". The Washington Post. 2008-01-17. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 2023-02-10. Most of the muscle in an alligator's jaw evolved to bite and grip prey. The muscles that close the jaws are powerful, but the muscles for opening their jaws are weak. As a result, an adult human can hold an alligator's jaws shut bare-handed. It is common to use several wraps of duct tape to prevent an adult alligator from opening its jaws when being handled or transported. [32] American Heritage Dictionaries (2007). Spanish Word Histories and Mysteries: English Words That Come From Spanish. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 13–15. ISBN 9780618910540. Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Chapter 4.