THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 45 



the eye, which would be the only place on an alligator's 

 head a snake's fangs could penetrate. When a non- 

 poisonous snake is caught it is not shaken, but killed by be- 

 ing crushed between the jaws. I have seen alligators catch 

 large terrapin and turtles of considerable size and crush 

 their hard shells as if they were made of paper, swallowing 

 them whole. 



When an alligator catches food that is too large to be 

 swallowed with its mouth closed, it raises its head above the 

 water, and after pulping the food by numerous crushings be- 

 tween its jaws it is deftly shifted by throwing the object into 

 the air until the head part points down its throat, when the 

 whole object is swallowed at one gulp. Should the object 

 be too large for the throat, and fail to pass in, it is ejected 

 and again crushed between the jaws until it becomes more 

 pliable, and then swallowed. I have seen a large captive 

 alligator fed, at times, the shoulder containing the bone, 

 and the backbone in sections as much as two feet long of 

 full grown cattle, and these bones were crushed between 

 the alligator's jaws as matches would be between the fingers 

 of a man. 



The crushing power of an alligator's jaws is enormous, 

 and the muscular development operating the under jaw is 

 tremendously heavy and strong. When even a three-foot 

 alligator closes its jaws on an object it is impossible for a 

 man with ordinary strength to open these jaws. When a 

 large alligator closes its jaws on a victim, it is absolutely 

 impossible, no matter what the strength of the thing 

 grasped, for it to get away. This is the closing power of 

 an alligator's jaws. 



The opening power is exceedingly small. I have held 

 closed with my left hand the jaws of the largest alligators 

 I have ever caught. When handling alligators, even the 

 largest, if it is on land, I usually press the top jaw down 

 with a stick, grasp the top and bottom jaw at the nose with 

 my left hand, and with my right pass a strong cord or rope 



