Alligators generally prey upon animals they can swallow whole, using gravity to help him go down. Fish, turtles, snakes, frogs, raccoons, or possums, and large birds are among the wide selection of this opportunistic feeder. Occasionally, alligators may take a deer, hog or large dog which they will first drown, and, with vigorous lateral movements of their heads or by the spinning of their bodies, remove body parts to swallow the prey piecemeal. Few animals escape the jaws of an alligator. The large jowls at the angle of the jaws attest to the alligators huge masseter muscles.
- Excerpt from A Naturalist’s Guide to the Okefenokee Swamp by Taylor Schoettle
Schoettle, T., & van Couvering, L. . A Naturalist’s Guide to the Okefenokee Swamp. H. E. Taylor Schoettle, 2002. Page 53.
Okefenokee Photography Project by William Wise 