American alligator
Scientific name: Alligator mississippiensis (Daudin, 1801)
Overview
The American alligator, sometimes referred to as a common alligator or just gator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the genus Alligator, and is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator.
From the Wikipedia article “American alligator”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: SE USA (Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas), Mexico.
Common names
Also known in English as Alligator, Florida alligator, Gator, Louisiana alligator., Mississippi alligator.
Names in other languages (11)
- Arabic
- قاطور أمريكي
- Chinese
- 美國短吻鱷
- French
- Alligator d'Amérique
- German
- Mississippi-Alligator
- Indonesian
- Aligator Amerika
- Japanese
- アメリカアリゲーター
- Persian
- تمساح آمریکایی
- Portuguese
- Jacaré-americano
- Russian
- миссисипский аллигатор
- Spanish
- Aligator Americano
- Turkish
- Amerika aligatoru
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Reptile Database.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q193327, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “American alligator”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — User:Postdlf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — USGS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026