Alligators (Alligator sp.)

[Paleosuchus]

Posted this in the cougar information profile but this fits here as well

Quote:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1656/058.009.0420?journalCode=sena

The Mcbride's observations posted on pages prior report a 2.6m alligator, which would definitely be a mature animal. However they aren't particularly heavy say, in comparison with a twelve foot male. To show what a male alligator of the predated animals length would weigh, I present the weights recorded in Joanen & Mcnease(1972):

*This image is copyright of its original author

What's more is this is the largest alligator ever recorded to have been killed by a florida panther -- the abstract from the McBrides demonstrates this rather efficiently as we see the alligators that have been recorded as prey for this feline are not even adult individuals, having not reached sexual maturity(Alligators do so at ~1.8m in total body length). Now mind you the weights from Joanen and Mcnease are of male alligators as i don't know if they actually sexed the deceased alligator or not, but i've operated under the assumption it was a male -- if it was a female it would likely weigh less than what i've shown above. This predation event on the 2.6m individual is pretty fascinating and indeed impressive, but its far from a "large" alligator, despite the name of the article. Reply