A trivia question I asked several people last week was “The alligator is native to the U.S. and which other country?” The expected answer was China.
However, my brother, who is quite knowledgeable about such things, said that they are also found in extreme northeastern Tamaulipas . Tamaulipas is the gulf coast state just across the Rio Grande from Texas. What little research I have done suggests that American alligators are expanding their range in that direction and that the Rio Grande is now much more suitable alligator habitat since dams have been built and it no longer flows as swiftly as it once did. However, several authorities have stated that purported alligator sightings in Tamaulipas are in fact sightings of the similar Morelet’s crocodile.
What do you all here at this message board think? If anyone has any citation to a reputable authority one way or the other, that would be greatly appreciated.
[I]t is unlikely that wild alligators exist in Texas today south or west of the Corpus Christi area. The last confirmed sighting from the Rio Grande was in 1949, near Eagle Pass.
That reference is from 1971. I understand the American Alligator has made a comeback since then. Eagle Pass, TX, is across from Piedras Negras, Coah. So not just Tamaulipas, but Nuevo León and Coahila too. At least as the occasional, historical extreme. I didn’t see anything later on first pass.
returns news articles from a few years ago, again in/near Eagle Pass. Although one is a Newsweek article claiming they’ve been deliberately released to deter crossings.
For one data point - while fishing in the Arroyo Colorado (about 90 miles south of Corpus and 30 miles north of the Rio Grande) last year I saw a fairly large alligator. I wasn’t surprised, but I didn’t know they were supposed to be rare. I routinely see gators just north of Corpus Christi in the Rockport area.