What is the difference between an alligator and crocodile? other than where they live?

Question

What is the difference between an alligator and crocodile? other than where they live?

Answer 1

alli-gaytos is on-ree cuz they got all dem teeth but no toofbrush to brush em wit

Answer 2

alligators have wide snouts, crocodiles snout is skinny and long.

Answer 3

To add onto newfy's answer, coloration is different between alligators and crocodiles as well. Alligators tend to be charcoal grey to black with yellow or creamish banding, crocs are more of a golden khaki or olive green. Alligators eyes are golden, croc's eyes are green. The lining on the inside of a gator's mouth is cream/almond colored... croc is more orangeish. The osteoderms (scutes... bumps on their backs) on a croc are more pronounced and scattered more randomly onto the flanks and even in some species the belly (not that belly scutes are visible, but if you're examining a hide...) and the "tail fins" on a croc are also much more pronounced than on a gator (picture a croc as a '57 chevy, a gator as a '55). Crocodiles back feet have more webbing than alligators... gator teeth are... hmm... how to describe this correctly... basically conical, croc teeth tend to be more dagger-shaped.

That should cover all the obvious differences, and a few that aren't so obvious... we won't get into scale counts and things like that though...

Answer 4

difference between the crocodile and the alligator is that the crocodile's upper and lower jaws are nearly the same width, so the teeth are exposed all along the jaw line in an interlocking pattern, even when the mouth is closed. They also have an enormous 4th tooth on the lower jaw that is accommodated by depressions in the upper jaw just behind the nostrils.

An alligator, on the other hand, has a wider upper jaw, so when its mouth is closed the teeth in the lower jaw fit into sockets of the upper jaw, hidden from view. Only the teeth of the upper jaw are exposed along the lower jaw line. Even the enormous 4th tooth on the bottom jaw, which is exposed in a crocodile, is hidden in the alligator.

Answer 5

A quick and easy way to tell by looking at them is their snout and teeth.  Crocodiles have narrow snouts and toothy grins.  Alligators have broad snouts and you usually cannot see the teeth.