Florida's Space Coast 2008-2009 Official Vacation Planner - (Page 18) How can you tell the length of an alligator? Each inch from its eyes to the tip of its nose equals one foot! The largest alligator ever recorded in Florida was 17 feet 5 inches long (5.3 meters). Alligators are classified as reptiles along with lizards, snakes, and turtles, but they are actually more closely related to birds, whose direct ancestors were dinosaurs! On land alligators can lumber along dragging their tails, or they can walk on their toes with the heels of the hind feet and most of the tail well off the ground. Using this “high walk” alligators can run up to 30 miles per hour (38 kph) for short distances. It can take 15 - 50 years before a sea turtle is capable of reproducing. Scientists estimate that only 1 in 1000 to 10,000 babies will survive to adulthood. Sea turtles live their entire life in the ocean only coming ashore when the female lays her eggs. They can migrate thousands of miles and usually return to lay their eggs on the same beach where they hatched. When its time to sleep, a loggerhead will wedge under a rock close to the shore, or take a snooze while floating on the surface of deep water. Hatchlings weigh less than one ounce and are only two inches long. Adults can grow over three feet long and weigh 200 to 300 pounds! The manatee’s closest land relatives are the elephant and the hyrax, a small, gopher-sized mammal. Manatees eat aquatic plants and can consume 10-15 percent of their body weight daily in vegetation. Resting, manatees have been known to stay submerged for up to 20 minutes. When manatees are using a great deal of energy, they may surface to breathe as often as every 30 seconds. Fossil remains of manatee ancestors show they have inhabited Florida for about 45 million years. Modern manatees have been in Florida for over one million years. 18 www.space-coast.com • (877) 572-322 gATOr FACTS TurTlE FACTS MANATEE FACTS http://www.space-coast.com
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