Alligators Attack and Eat Sharks

The American reptiles have a voracious diet, but scientists were still surprised by what they found.

An American alligator swallows an adult bonnethead shark, one of four examples of the reptiles eating elasmobranchs.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JUDY COOKE

American alligators gobble up anything they can get their jaws around. Now, a new study has added new items to their menu: sharks and stingrays.

It's particularly surprising, says study leader James Nifong, an ecologist at Kansas State University, because alligators are known as freshwater predators.

In fact, when Nifong started asking alligator experts if they’d ever encountered instances of the toothy reptiles preying upon elasmobranchs—a group that includes sharks, rays, and skates—quite a few people thought he was joking.

An American alligator chows down on a nurse shark in Florida's J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

SHARK VS. GATOR

There are a few reasons why observations of shark-gator showdowns are scarce.

For starters, both animals are tough to follow and observe in their coastal habitats, says Adam Rosenblatt, an ecologist at the University of North Florida who studies alligators.