Alligator Skull Specimen A

This scaly boy is a remnant of an age long gone and is the closest thing we have (until someone decides to pull a Jurassic Park, which honestly feels imminent) to dinosaurs walking the Earth. The American alligator as we know it today didn’t live alongside the dinosaurs, but its ancestors absolutely did. Alligators belong to a group called archosaurs, which includes both modern crocodilians and extinct dinosaurs. The American alligator itself showed up more recently—around 6 to 8 million years ago—but it's part of a lineage that’s basically shrugged off multiple mass extinction events. Considering how most creatures fared during those times, it’s an absolute wonder these are still around today. Probably the most defining feature of the American alligator is its gigantic jaws. Not only are they massive, but the power behind them is incredible. They can slam shut their toothy mouth with about 2,000 pounds of force—easily enough to crack bone. Once a gator gets its prey in its mouth, it’s