I went to a wildlife refuge in North Carolina looking for red wolves as this refuge is the only place you can see them in the wild. Unfortunately, I did not see the wolves. I did, however, see some alligators.
When I first saw an alligator at the refuge, it was on a log that was floating in a stream that ran alongside the road. It appeared to be sleeping. On another log in front of the alligator, there were a few turtles. It seemed like an odd choice for the turtles to sit right in front of the alligator.
Sometimes when I look at the pictures that I got of the alligators in North Carolina, my brother-in-law comes to mind. He went to Florida for training in flying planes and helicopters. He really wanted to see an alligator, but never did.
You can find the American alligator from Texas to Florida and all the way up to North Carolina. They can be around eight feet long to around eleven feet long. The males are bigger than the females and can get up to one-thousand pounds. They live around freshwater instead of saltwater. You can find them in rivers, swamps, marshes, and lakes.
Alligators are carnivores. They eat things like fish, turtles, and birds. They start laying eggs around June to July and can lay up to ninety eggs. Alligators can live around fifty years in the wild.