American alligators are found in freshwater coastal wetlands across the southeastern United States, from Louisiana to the Carolinas.

Though tipped with nightmare claws, the limbs of American alligators—this one photographed at a local park—are more often used to excavate wallowing holes than to slash at prey.

Any of various tropical American crocodilians of the genus Caiman and related genera, resembling and closely related to the alligators.