ALLIGATOR

Scientific Name: Alligator mississippiensis

IUCN Status: Least concern

Habitat: Swamps and wetlands

Diet: Fish, turtles, snakes, and the occasional small deer or wading bird

Life Span: About 50 years

Reproduction: Mating occurs in open water. The female then goes to the thickest part of the marsh to build a large nest of muddy vegetation. A week later, she lays 30 to 70 eggs which hatch 2 months later. Young use an egg tooth to help open the egg.

Fact: Alligators have a tansparent third eyelid that gives underwater protection.



GILA MONSTER

Scientific Name: Heloderma suspectum

IUCN Status: Near threatened

Habitat: Desert and semiarid regions of gravelly and sandy soils with shrubs

Diet: Gila monsters most often prey on small birds and mammals, eggs, lizards, frogs and insects

Life Span: About 20 years in the wild, 30 years in the zoo

Reproduction: Gila monsters mate during the late spring months. It's common for males to challenge other males for mating rights by biting each other.

Fact: With very few natural predators, they may spend up to 98 percent of their lives in or at the mouth of a burrow.



ANACONDA

Scientific Name: Eunectes murinus

IUCN Status: Not evaluated

Habitat: Swampy river valleys, stream banks

Diet: In the wild, anacondas prey on deer, wild pigs, birds, ocelot, other snakes, tapirs, sheep, dogs and large rodents like agouti, paca, and capybara

Life Span: About 10 years

Reproduction: The beginning of the rainy season triggers mating behaviors in Anacondas. This can last for several months. The males will follow the scent of the female.

Fact: The average size of an anaconda is 300 pounds and 20 feet long!



GREEN TREE PYTHON

Scientific Name: Morelia viridis

IUCN Status: Least concern

Habitat: Rainforests, bushes and shrubs

Diet: Small mammals, such as rodents, and sometimes reptiles

Life Span: 10-15 years

Reproduction: The eggs are incubated and protected by the female, often in the hollow of a tree.

Fact: These snakes have a particular way of resting in the branches of trees; they loop a coil or two over the branches in a saddle position and place their head in the middle.



HONDURAN MILKSNAKE

Scientific Name: Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis

IUCN Status: Not evaluated

Habitat: Typically, milksnakes live in forested regions, however, in some regions they can be located in open prairies.

Diet: birds and their eggs, frogs, fish, lizards, and small mammals

Life Span: 12 years

Reproduction: In June and July, the female lays three to twenty-four eggs beneath logs, boards, rocks, logs and rotting vegetation. The eggs incubate for approximately two months, and hatch around August or September.

Fact: Milksnake activity is mostly nocturnal.