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Saved the alligators from extinction, US
The American alligator is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States and a small section of northeastern Mexico. It is one of the two extant species in the genus Alligator and is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator. Adult male American alligators measure 3.4 to 4.6 m in length and can weigh up to 500 kg, with unverified sizes of up to 5.84 m and weights of 1,000 kg making it the second largest member by length and the heaviest of the family Alligatoridae, after the black caiman. The American alligator inhabits subtropical and tropical freshwater wetlands, such as marshes and cypress swamps, from southern Texas to North Carolina. Fossils identical to the existing American alligator are found throughout the Pleistocene, from 2.5 million to 11.7 thousand years ago. American alligators play an important role as ecosystem engineers in wetland ecosystems through the creation of alligator holes, which provide both wet and dry habitats for other organisms. American alligators also may control the long-term vegetation dynamics in wetlands by reducing the population of small mammals, particularly nutria, which may otherwise overgraze marsh vegetation. Historically, hunting and habitat loss have severely affected American alligator populations throughout their range, and whether the species would survive was in doubt. The American alligator was listed as an endangered species by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The ESA prohibited alligator hunting for many years and alligator populations rebounded. Today there are healthy populations of alligators but to ensure overhunting does not occur again, many states within the alligator’s range have regulated hunting seasons and monitor populations. American alligators are currently listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List. Both the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and state wildlife agencies in the South contributed to the American alligator's recovery. Protection under the Endangered Species Act allowed the species to recuperate in many areas where it had been depleted. States began monitoring their American alligator populations to ensure that they would continue to grow. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) still regulates the legal trade in American alligators and their products to protect endangered crocodilians that may be passed off as American alligators during trafficking. The alligator farm contributes to the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES), often called the Frozen Zoo. CRES preserves genetic samples of a huge range of animals for researchers to study. American alligators are listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meaning that international trade in the species (including parts and derivatives) is regulated. Currently, an estimated 5 million American alligators are thriving once again in the southeastern United States. The alligator population has been fully restored, “making it one of the first success stories among endangered species,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Timelines
2024
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks monitors alligator populations to efficiently manage hunting opportunities. It is important to remember that alligators are a natural and important part of our aquatic ecosystem in Mississippi; that is why we must maintain the proper balance.
2023
August
August 2023, when a group of hunters from the state captured a 14-foot, 3-inch monster that weighed in at 802.5 pounds!
2016
The late Miocene fossil skull of an alligator, dating to approximately seven or eight million years ago, was discovered in Marion County, Florida. Unlike the other extinct alligator species of the same genus, the fossil skull was virtually indistinguishable from that of the modern American alligator.
2014
The full genome, published, suggests that the alligator evolved much more slowly than mammals and birds. The largest taken American alligator ever recorded was captured in 2014 in Alabama. It measured 15 feet, 9 inches and weighed 1,011.5 pounds.
1990
The alligator's full mitochondrial genome was sequenced in the 1990s, and it suggests the animal evolved at a rate similar to mammals and greater than birds and most cold-blooded vertebrates.
1987
The USFWS removed the animal from the endangered species list, as it was considered to be fully recovered.
1973
American alligator was listed as an endangered species by the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
1967
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service placed American alligators on the endangered species list. Mississippi went to work on restoring the alligator population. Relying on cooperation from several surrounding organizations, the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission (MGFC) went about the task of trapping and relocating nearly 4,000 alligators. Federal regulations, combined with the relocation efforts of the MGFC, were instrumental in the rebounding alligator population in Mississippi.
1950
From the 1800s to the mid-1900s, American alligators were being hunted and poached by humans unsustainably. The American alligator was on the brink of extinction. By the 1950s, demand for pelts and unregulated hunting in the southeastern United States had nearly wiped out the species after 200 million years on planet Earth.
1807
Georges Cuvier created the genus Alligator, based on the English common name alligator (derived from the Spanish word el lagarto, "the lizard").
1801
The American alligator was first classified by French zoologist François Marie Daudin as Crocodilus mississipiensis.