Alligators hear with ears that are located behind their eyes and are very sensitive to vibrations in the water. The alligator also has transparent eyelids that cover its eyes so that they can see under water. When an alligator is not active or when the weather is colder, alligators are able to hold their breath even longer. When alligators become blind, they feed using their sense of smell, feeling and sometimes attack the origination of sounds. Alligators will eat almost anything they can capture -- fish, turtles, frogs, birds, small mammals, and sometimes even larger mammals like deer. When an alligator is not active or when the weather is colder, alligators are able to hold their breath even longer. Alligators travel across land to reach water. Sound is a key sense in many animals, yet relatively little is known about how hearing sensitivity differs between environments. Texas Parks and Wildlife offers some tips of what you should and shoud not do if you see an alligator. They have perfectly located eyes for vision when their head are poking above the water, they have pretty amazing night vision too. They have extra sensory organs inside the snout for a heightened sense of smell and their vision above water can be compared to that of an owl. And the alligators may feel that the divers are as adept in the water as they are - after all, they're swimming around down there. They have a “nictitating membrane” to protect their eyes so that they can see underwater. Alligators hear with ears that are located behind their eyes and are very sensitive to vibrations in the water. Retention ponds, areas flooded from our torrential afternoon rains and even swimming pools. The alligator also has transparent eyelids that cover its eyes so that they can see under water. My son and another diver were decompressing after a long dive, one was floating about 6 feet above the other - an alligator swam down and positioned itself between the two of them and just hung out there!! When ponds begin to freeze, alligators will stick their snouts above water. D. Higgs and his colleagues at the University of Maryland wondered how sensitive alligators are to sounds in water and air, and discovered that alligators hear well in both environments. Alligators may lurk in flood waters and we're told that frequently, with many days of rain the alligators crawl out of the water to warm up their bodies and digest their food. Because on the show swamp people on the History channel, whenever the boat approaches the gators the do not submerge under the water, and when the catches flash the light on them at night time they still stay floating above the water Some of them can hold their breath for up to an hour. And don’t be fooled by the fact you can’t see their ears, their hearing is so sharp they can hear their offspring calling them from inside their eggs. If it is a body of water, it could contain an alligator (even large puddles). They have a “nictitating membrane” to protect their eyes so that they can see underwater. They have an excellent sense of hearing and a well developed inner ear; mothers can actually hear hatchlings calling while still inside the eggs. This flap blocks water so that it does not enter the creature’s stomach and/or lungs. Young alligators are typically more agile climbers, but adults have been known to climb fences to get to water or away from humans. This protective lens retracts when the gator surfaces and its vision is acute above water. 10 Things You Need to Know About Florida Alligators. What adaptation lets them see underwater? Alligators feed on the surface of the water, grab birds flying over the water and take food items from the shoreline or on land. Alligators capture all of these creatures by lurking in the water. It must then get back above water to ... otherwise, the alligator's stomach and lungs would fill with water. Moreover though crocodiles and alligators can live in water they have to come on the land tolay eggs which is not mandatory in the case of amphibians like frogs. Yes, always look before you leap. Because of this, their hearing needs to be specially adapted to receive signals through water … ANSWER: Alligators CAN hear. It must then get back above water to swallow it -- otherwise, the alligator's stomach and lungs would fill with water. While female alligators on average can grow up to 10 feet and males can grow up to 13 feet, it may seem that alligators are at the top of the food chain in the Everglades. Using their tails, alligators can push themselves up to 5 feet out of the water to snag small animals in low-hanging tree branches. The nictitating membrane (from Latin nictare, to blink) is a transparent or translucent third eyelid present in some animals that can be drawn across the eye for protection … They have a “nictitating membrane” to protect their eyes so that they can see underwater. Do alligators not hear and see well? - for about five minutes - then left. They have secondary transparent lids. Myth 5: Alligators have no enemy. This flap blocks water so that it does not enter the creature’s stomach and/or lungs. More Info: Alligators hearing is very different from the hearing of humans and other animals.This is because they spend just as much if not more of their time underwater.