How do I know how old this alligator head is?

Question

This is a silly question and there's probably no way to tell, but I thought I might give it a shot anyway.

My brother found an alligator skull in a lake near our house. He brought it home and put it in his garden. You can tell it's been there for quite some time. And I was wondering if there's any way to tell how old this guy was or how long the head was there?

He has a about half of his teeth. Some real big, some real small.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Here's a picture of it:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff40/fannargsc/TheCrocodileHunter-1.jpg

Answer 1

on average it takes a skull 4 months to become in that state. it could be less though!

Answer 2

i think its like 5 years old

Answer 3

hard to tell either... decomposition rates vary depending on weather etc. but I can tell you that was an old gator. Keep in mind there is no way to tell any reptile's age for sure, but with gators, tooth size and the general size of the skull can be decent pointers... and we can learn a lot about the animal from the skull.

The distance between the front of the eye sockets and the front of the nasal openings in inches is the approximate length in feet of the entire alligator (in larger specimens, this can be inaccurate, BUT it's usually kinda close) Females tend to hit 7 feet and slow down on growth... 10 feet is possible for a female, but 9 feet and up is VERY rare. Males growth rate usually slows at about 9 feet, so, looking at this skull, chances are it was a male... the size of the teeth... I'd say a good 30 - 40 years... nice find.