Alligator Diets on the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

Abstract

A total of 413 alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) stomachs collected in 1961, 1962, and 1964 from Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana, were examined for food contents. Crustaceans and fishes were important food for alligators of all sizes. Reptiles and birds ranked fairly high in the diets. Fluctuations in mammal populations were reflected in the alligator food habits. Muskrats (Ondatra zibethict4s) rated high as food in 194B, and nutria (Myocsster coypus) rated high in 1961. ALLIGATOR DIETS * Valentine et al. 809 gas chromatographic peaks in pesticide residue analyses. J. Assoc. Official Anal. Chemists 49( 2 ) :389499. HILLE, K. R. 1969. Ae effects o£ different concentrations of LAS on the toxicity of dieldrin to the bluegill (Lepomis mucrochirt4s). Ph.D. Thesis. The Ohio State Univ. 9()pp. INGRAM, W. M. l91S7. Use and value of biological indicators of pollution: fresh water clams and snails. Pages 9s135;. In Biological problems in water pollution, RATSEC, Public Health Serv. 272pp. MILLER, C. W., B. M. ZUCKERMAN, AND A. J. CHARIG. 1966. Water translocation of diazinon-Cls and parathion-S35 off a model cranberry bog and subsequent o-ccurrence in fish and mussels. Trans. Am. Fisheries Soc. 95( 4) :34S349 MOUNT, D. I., AND H. W. BOYLE. 1969. Parathion use of blood concentration to diagnose mortality of fish. Environmental Sci. and Technol. 3( 11 ) :118>1185. TEASLEY, J. I., AND W. S. COX. 1963. Determination of pesticides in water by microcoulometric gas chromatography after liquidliquid extraction. J. Am. Water Works Assoc. 55( 8 ): 1w31096. Received for publication July 2, 1971. The first comprehensive food habits study of the North American alligator was made by Kellogg ( 1929 ) . Most of the 157 stomachs examined by him came from alligators taken in Vermilion and Gameron parishes, Louisiana. McIlhenny ( 1935 ) listed the contents of 24 alligator stomachs from Avery Island, Iberia Parish. O'Neil ( 1949:115116) examined 96 stomachs in 1941 and 228 in 1942 from Iberia, Vermilion, and Cameron parishes. Giles and Childs ( 1949 ) analyzed 318 stomachs from alligators killed during the harvest of 1946 on the Sabine refuge. Foods and feeding habits of 20 alligators collected from two habitats on the Rockefeller Refuge, Cameron Parish, were compared by Chabreck ( In press ) . Our study reports on three series from 1961, 1962, and 1964 and compares them with the 1946 series ( Giles and Childs 1949 ) .