Assorted Animals of Florida

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American Alligator - Alligator mississippiensis

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Pictures - Top left, Large Male & Female Alligators on a pond bank. Top right - Alligator floating in typical fashion with only its eyes & nostrils above water. Bottom left - An Alligator in a nearly dried out canal keeps a wary eye on the photographer. Bottom right - A baby alligator basks in the sun on a cool Florida morning.

Male Alligators can grow to 19 feet long and can weigh in at over 1,000 pounds, while females rarely exceed 9 feet and about half the weight of males. Alligators have a thick, protective hide covered with coarse scales (called scutes), a large powerful tail used for swimming or as a defensive weapon and powerful jaws that can easily break bone or crush a turtles shell.

Alligators are considered an apex predator, as adults they rein supreme in their environment and the only animal that preys on them is man. All Alligators are opportunistic feeders, baby gators eat a wide variety of insects, crayfish, small fish, lizards and frogs. Adult Alligators will eat all types of prey that comes within range; fish, turtles, mammals, birds, reptiles and even other, smaller Alligators. As with other cold-blooded animals they are most active in warmer weather, becoming sluggish as temperatures drop and may even stop eating altogether when the ambient water temperature drops below 68-73 degrees F.

Habitat - Freshwater swamps, marshes, rivers, lakes. Occasionally alligators will wander into the brackish water of estuaries but don't stay long as they are not equipped to live in saltwater, lacking the salt excreting glands which Saltwater Crocodiles have.

When water levels in marshes and swamps drop during the dry season Alligator holes can be a refuge for many fish, turtles and other small aquatic animals until the spring rains arrive, again flooding the wetlands.

After mating in spring, female Alligators construct a nest which consists of a mound of uprooted vegetation and mud to about 3 1/2 feet high and 6 feet across and will lay anywhere from 35 - 50 eggs in a excavated depression in the top of the nest, then covering them with more vegetation. The decomposing vegetation produces heat, acting as a natural incubator. The female is particular about selecting a nesting site and will often use the same site in subsequent years. The nest must be above the high water mark as submergence will kill the eggs, yet close to water so the mother can remain nearby, guarding the nest.

After an incubation period averaging 65 days the hatchlings have outgrown their eggs & begin to make a chirping sound that stimulates the mother to break apart the nest. As they hatch the 6-8 inch babies are carried to the water in the mothers mouth. Baby Alligators group together in "pods" and will remain near their mother for at least the first year, this affords them some protection from predators; Raccoons, Bobcats, wading birds, Otters, large fish and even larger Alligators will eat them if given the chance.

On occasion an Alligator can become a true nuisance, moving into a populated area and posing a potential threat, if you believe you know of a problem gator you should report it to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 1-866-FWC-GATOR (1-866-392-4286).

River Otter - Lontra canadensis

River Otters are an amphibious mammal found in marshes, fresh & brackish water creeks & rivers, ponds and lakes throughout the state wherever there is an adequate supply food. Crustaceans, amphibians and fish make up a good portion of their diet but they are also known to be opportunistic feeders, consuming eggs, small animals and plants.

Otters are sometimes seen crossing roads as they will also often travel over land to get to another body of water. Actually Otters can run quite well - up to about 18 miles an hour!

Males are generally larger than the female, in Florida they grow over 3 feet & weigh up to 35 pounds. Otters make their home ( called a den ) in an abandoned burrow of another animal or in hollows under trees or other dense vegetation on the banks of the body of water they inhabit.

Fur color ranges from brown to nearly black. Webbed toes enable them to swim up to 7 miles per hour. Otters are equipped with specialized valves in their ears and nose which close tightly when submerged. As they are nocturnal the best time to see the River Otter is in the early morning hours & again in the late afternoon.

Florida White-tailed Deer - Odocoileus virginianus seminolus

One of the three subspecies of White-tailed Deer found in Florida, a typical adult buck weighs about 125 lbs., the average doe is about 95 lbs., average adult height is about 36 inches at the shoulder.

The size of deer in Florida is mostly dependent on the nutritional quality of locally available forage, consisting of the leaves and newly developed tips of shrubs, berries, succulent green plants, grasses, acorns and aquatic plants.

Coloration ranges from light tan to dark brown, sometimes almost black, with white inside the ears and on the throat, belly, rump, and the underside of the tail.

Habitat is largely dependent on the availability of food and water, though they prefer fairly open woodlands with a balance of grassland. Deer are most active in the early morning and again in the early evening around sundown, usually spending the remainder of the day in the dense cover of a thicket.

Gopher Tortoise - Gopherus polyphemus

Gopher Tortoise habitat is in the very well drained & dry sandy soils of Sandhill, Scrub, Flatwoods & Dry Prairies.

Gopher Tortoises' need lots of open, sunny areas for the plants that they feed on to grow. Fruit like the Gopher Apple, Saw Palmetto berries, & Blackberries along with grasses and other herbaceous plants make up the bulk of its diet.

Sometimes erroneously referred to as a Gopher Turtle, the Gopher Tortoise lives to 50 plus years and is considered a "keystone species" in that over 350 other animals rely on the burrows of the tortoise as a necessary part of their habitat, including the threatened Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon corais couperi).

Skunk, foxes, mice, Gopher Frogs, other frogs and invertebrates are frequent visitors to the tortoise burrow. During fire their burrows which are recorded at lengths up to 40 feet and 10 feet deep maybe the only refuge available to many smaller animals.

Burrows are also a good indication of the size of the animal that dug it - the width of the burrow is about the length of the Tortoise, this allows them to turn around at any point in the burrow.

The entrance of a Gopher Tortoise's burrow is easily recognized by a low mound of excavated sand, called an apron. The biggest current threats to the Gopher Tortoise are loss of habitat, upper respiratory infections & poaching.

Florida Box Turtle - Terrapene carolina bauri

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The Florida Box turtle is one of four sub-species of the Eastern box turtle, its range is limited to the peninsula. Growing to a length of about 7 inches this turtle has the ability to almost completely close its shell because of its hinged plastron (lower part of shell). Box Turtles are land dwelling & omnivorous, feeding on a variety of vegetation, small animals and eggs.

Box turtle habitat - Sand Pine scrub, Flatwoods, Margins of lakes, ponds, marshes, river floodplains.

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Florida's Fabulous Reptiles and Amphibians: Snakes, Lizards, Alligators, Frogs, and Turtles