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Location: American alligators are
distributed throughout SE USA but the American crocodile in the
US is confined to southern Florida.
For most tourists Florida means alligators and
with four million alligators in the state they are not difficult
to find. However, Florida is also home to two other crocodilians,
the introduced Spectacled caiman, Caiman crocodilus from
Latin America, and the endangered, ocean-going American crocodile,
Crocodylus acutus. Almost pushed to extinction by man, the crocodile
has benefitted from a recovery program and its numbers are now increasing
significantly in south Florida. Mark joins Joe Wasilewski at night
on his airboat at Turkey Point Power Station where the power stations
cooling channels have become home to a large crocodile population.
Mark also visits the remote Taylors River location in the
southern Everglades, a river which can only be reached from the
sea, with crocodile expert Dr Frank Mazzotti. Frank takes Mark to
the threatened crocodile nesting sites he knows and the two search
for crocodiles by torch-light in the lakes along the Taylors
River.
[Mark also investigated the alligators in the Loxahatchee Wildlife
Refuge and Lake Apopka, Florida, as well as joining Pesky Critters
to capture nuisance alligators and caiman in the canals around Homestead
Air Force Base but this footage failed to make the final film.]

A close view of an American crocodile
(Crocodylus acutus), note the narrow snout in contrast to broad
snout of an alligator.
| EMYDIDAE |
POND TERRAPINS & BOX TURTLES |
| Pseudemys nelsoni |
Nelson's cooter |
| Pseudemys peninsularis |
Peninsula cooter |
| Trachemys scripta elegans |
Red-eared slider |
| ALLIGATORIDAE |
ALLIGATORS &
CAIMAN |
| Alligator mississippiensis |
American alligator |
| Caiman crocodilus crocodilus |
Spectacled camian |
| CROCODILIDAE |
CROCODILES |
| Crocodylus acutus |
American crocodile |
| IGUANIDAE |
IGUANAS |
| Iguana iguana rhinolopha |
Central American green iguana |
| POLYCHROTIDAE |
ANOLES |
| Anolis sagrei sagrei |
Cuban brown anole |
| COLUBRIDAE |
TYPICAL SNAKES |
| Nerodia fasciata pictiventris |
Florida banded watersnake |
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Location: Alligators occur throughout Florida, Crocodiles are found
in the extreme south (in red) and introduced Spectacled caiman are
found at Homestead.

New Yorker, Frank Mazzotti is an ackowledged expert on the American
crocodile. He took O'Shea to the remote Taylor's River.
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Attempting to noose an adult American crocodile in Taylor's River,
Everglades National Park, at night.
Examining a juvenile American crocodile caught from an airboat at
Turkey Point, s.Florida.
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