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dead alligator" read a sign at a park I visited recently. They are doing well once again and can be seen in parks — in our area, Deer Prairie Creek, Carlton Reserve, Duette Preserve and Brooker Creek Preserve. Fresh water means alligators, so you may also find them in ponds, streams and ditches and on golf courses. South of us, the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park near Naples, Big Cypress National Preserve and the Everglades National Park have large concentrations of alligators. The alligator's cousin, the American crocodile, lives in the mangroves mainly in the 10,000 islands of extreme south Florida, where the land dissolves into the sea. Reputed to be gentler beasts, they are much fewer in num- ber and lighter in color. Adapted to salt water, they have a long sharp snout as opposed to the rounded snout of the alligator. A keystone species in the Everglades, alliga- tors dig large holes in the muck, which fill with water. A 'gator hole will tide over hun- dreds of animals in the dry season, including herons, ibis and wood storks. Alligators bellow — especially in springtime, the mating season. The female builds a large nest of rotting plants to maintain the right temperature for incubation of her eggs. Under the mother's watchful eye, hatchlings emerge 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' at the Fakahatchee Strand. Sarasota News Leader March 28, 2014 Page 98