Louisiana alligators consumed insects and crustaceans, instead of apple snails

(Chabreck 1972, Valentine et al. 1972, McNease and Joanen 1977, Wolfe et al. 1987,

Platt et al. 1990). Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) were a common invertebrate

identified in alligator diets from Louisiana (Chabreck 1972, Valentine et al. 1972,

McNease and Joanen 1977, Wolfe et al. 1987, Platt et al. 1990). Apple snails do not

occur in Louisiana and therefore are not a part of alligator diets there.

Non-prey items

 Non-prey items are commonly found in the stomach of crocodilians (Fogarty and

Albury 1967, Valentine et al. 1972, McNease and Joanen 1977, Diefenbach 1979, Webb

et al. 1982, Delany and Abercrombie 1986, Taylor 1986, Magnusson et al. 1987, Wolfe et

al. 1987, Delany et al. 1988, Platt et al. 1991, Webb et al. 1991, Thorbjarnarson 1993,

Barr 1994, Tucker et al. 1996, Barr 1997, Delany et al. 1999, Silveira and Magnusson

1999, Platt et al. 2002, Pauwels et al. 2003). Non-prey items commonly found in

crocodilian stomachs were plant material, wood, rocks, and artificial objects. These

items provide no nutritional value to the crocodilians (Coulson and Hernandez 1983) and

are probably ingested incidental to prey capture.

 The alligators in the study had a high occurrence of plant material, wood and

nematodes among the lakes. Most of the plant material was aquatic vegetation, seeds and

nuts. Captive American alligators have been observed eating vegetation including

elderberry (Samnbucus canadensis), citrus fruits, and leafy greens (Brueggen 2002).

These captive alligators received a nutritionally balanced captive diet and therefore the

cause of the plant ingestion was unknown (Brueggen 2002).

 Some crocodilian diet studies have reported the occurrence of parasitic worms in

crocodilian stomachs (Valentine et al. 1972, Webb et al. 1982, Delany and Abercrombie