#Reptile

Alligators are masters of stealth, and their eye placement plays a critical role.

With eyes set high on their heads, they can float nearly motionless at the water’s surface while watching everything around them and staying almost invisible.

Their vertical pupils give them excellent night vision, making them especially effective ambush predators during dawn, dusk, or even under moonlight.

The green tree python spends most of its life high in the forest canopy, perfectly adapted for an arboreal lifestyle.

It coils itself over branches in a classic saddle position, allowing it to stay hidden while keeping its muscles ready to strike. From this perch, the snake waits patiently for birds, lizards, or small mammals to pass by. When prey comes within range, it launches a lightning-fast strike and uses its sharp, backward-facing teeth to grab and hold before constricting.

This ambush strategy is highly effective in the dense, shaded treetops where movement is limited and cover is plentiful.

The sex of a baby alligator is not determined by genetics but by the temperature of the nest during incubation. If the temperature stays around 90 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit, most of the hatchlings will be male.

Cooler temperatures, around 82 to 86 degrees, produce mostly females. Even a slight change of just a few degrees can alter the ratio, sometimes resulting in mixed groups of males and females.

This temperature-dependent sex determination is common in many reptiles and makes alligator populations sensitive to climate shifts.