Crocodiles part 5: Chinese Alligator

Chinese alligator is much smaller than its American relative: nowadays it doesn't exceed 2 m (7') length. It is virtually extinct in the wild, but is captive-bred in a few breeding centers in China and USA. Xuancheng Chinese Alligator Research Center in Anhoi Province, China, is the best place to see these charming little dragons. The Center has hundreds of alligators, including a few wild ones in natural habitat.

Very old male, XCARC, China.

Chinese alligator in the wild, Longxi, China.

The biology of the two alligator species is similar, but there are many differences. Chinese alligators hibernate for up to 7 months in long, complex burrows. They bellow differently, and seldom headslap or produce infrasound.

Bellowing male, XCARC, China.

Male bellowing, St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, Florida.

Adult female, SAAFZP, Florida.

Before they became so rare, Chinese alligators probably used to be as social as American ones.

Alligator courtship, XCARC, China.

Female building a nest, XCARC, China.

Now the last wild animals are isolated in tiny village ponds, so mating rituals can only be seen in captivity.

Juvenile, XCARC, China.

Female trying to seduce a male, XCARC, China.

A couple in love, XCARC, China.

T'o (alligator) as illustrated in a sixteenth-century Chinese medical book. From Fauvel 1879.

Although a large number of Chinese alligators is produced in breeding centers every year, habitat destruction in Eastern China is so severe that there are very good places to release them in the wild. Although the future of this species doesn't look as hopeless as it did just a few years ago, it is still far from certain.

Old Chinese character for t'o (alligator). From Thorbjarnarson & Wang, 2011.

Adult, XCARC, China.

Part 6: Caimans

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