Alligators versus sharks: Who wins this ultimate showdown? (2024)
It’s the aquatic battle royale. A previously overlooked conflict between alligators and sharks has been going on for centuries at least, and it seems the alligators are winning.
James Nifong at Kansas State University has studied American alligators in marine habitats for the past decade. A keen fisherman, Nifong noticed he was catching a lot of sharks in alligator country, and wondered whether the two predators ever interacted. “Alligators are opportunistic,” he says. “They’re not going to pass up a big chunk of protein that’s swimming by.”
However, the only previous evidence of alligators eating elasmobranchs – the group to which sharks and rays belong – was an individual with stingray spines in its jaw.
Nifong searched the scientific and historical literature, and consulted experts on alligators and sharks. He found confirmed instances of alligators eating lemon, nurse and bonnethead sharks, as well as an Atlantic stingray. He says sharks and other elasmobranch fish could be a significant but underappreciated food source for alligators.
“Gators will eat almost anything that will fit in their mouths,” agrees Steven Gabrey at the Northwestern State University of Louisiana. But he has analysed the contents of many alligator stomachs and never found shark remains.
Gabreysays that might be because thealligators lived in marshes far from salt water, so were less likely to encounter sharks. Alligators also have highly acidic stomachs, which could dissolve the cartilaginous skeletons of sharks with little trace.
The only previous accounts of sharks attacking alligators come from credulous late 19th-century newspaper articles. One described hundreds of alligators and sharks assembling in an inlet and “fight[ing] like dogs”.
Though undoubtedly exaggerated, such stories are not wholly incredible, says Nifong. Both sharks and alligators gather in large numbers to feed, and alligators were far more numerous in the 19th century than today. “That increases the probability these feeding congregations would commingle,” Nifong says.
Nifong also scoured the literature for accounts of sharks clashing with other crocodilians. He found plenty. But in many cases the crocodilians were the prey, from great white sharks preying on American crocodiles in Colombia, to tiger sharks eating estuarine crocodiles in Australia.
Conservationists should bear the crocodilian-shark conflict in mind, says Nifong, as both groups contain endangered species. A study published in April found that many Australian sawfish – another shark relative – sported crocodile-inflicted scars. Similarly, the US nursery grounds of the endangered smalltooth sawfish are known to harbour alligators. “If there are alligators in the area, survival of those juveniles is going to go down,” says Nifong.
Journal reference: Southeastern Naturalist, vol 16, p 383
Article amended on 26 September 2017
The attribution of a comment in the story has been corrected.
Depending on whose research you're reading, sharks have great eyesight or their inability to see color makes them rely on motion and brightness to hunt. But they have a great sense of smell, and they can hear low frequencies, AZ animals said. All this, AZ Animals says, adds up to the shark besting the alligator.
Even without the alligator/crocodile size mismatch, American crocodiles tend to be more aggressive than American alligators. So, long story short, crocodiles win nine times out of 10.
The Florida Museum indicates that shark bites (509) are more prevalent than alligator bites (442), but alligator attacks are significantly more deadly. Twenty-six alligator bites have resulted in deaths in the state while Florida has had just nine shark-related fatalities.
If a fight were to occur on land, the gorilla might have the upper hand due to its speed and ability to dodge attacks quickly. However, if the fight were to take place in water, the alligator's aquatic prowess and superior swimming skills would give it a significant advantage.
But do sharks ever one-up and gobble down a gator? "I'm sure they would," said Eric Reyier, a fisheries biologist at Kennedy Space Center's Ecological Program and Integrated Mission Support Services. "Both alligators and sharks eat whatever they can." At times, that's each other.
But in the rivers, lakes, and wetlands of Africa, hippos are still the alpha. They are simply too big for crocs to get their mouths around. Even if a crocodile were to grab a hippo's leg and deploy its go-to move, the death roll, it would likely fail to budge its much larger neighbor.
Michael Kirkland, a biologist with the South Florida Water Management District, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, "Pythons really are the apex predator now—a large python and a large alligator, either one could win that battle. The alligator is about the only native animal down here that could possibly win."
In his first and second fights with Luffy, instead of killing him straight away, Crocodile left Luffy to suffer. Because of this carelessness, Luffy was able to come back in two different occasions and finally defeat him.
Their slow, quiet and sudden way of attacking is the most frightening by far. When researching predatory creatures, I'm typically comforted to discover that many are unlikely to actually attack humans—but not crocodiles. No, crocodiles are known to attack humans on purpose.
As of April 2021, the great white shark - the species portrayed in the film “Jaws” - is responsible for the highest number of unprovoked attacks with 333 total events including 52 fatalities.
However, it would have to survive the wrath of the angry primate until the gorilla expires from the venom's symptoms, which isn't easy - while Komodo dragons are tough even without their venom, 150 kilograms (~350 pounds) of pissed off gorilla will certainly overpower, overwhelm, and decimate the reptile.
Depends, but typically no. The Saltwater crocodile has the strongest bite force, but that strength isn't all that useful against a shark in the water. It will be more agile and come from underneath or the side striking and swimming away and then maneuvering for another quick but deadly strike.
He also uncovered some historical accounts of sharks preying upon American alligators, suggesting that the two carnivores square off more often than thought. An American alligator chows down on a nurse shark in Florida's J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
Scientists use AI to simulate EPIC battles between the most ferocious creatures in the animal kingdom - so, who would win between a hippo and a great white shark? While it ultimately lost to the Hippopotamus in the tournament, the polar bear gave five other competitors a run for their money.
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