The American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, is found from east Texas, throughout much of the gulf coast states – including all of Louisiana and Florida – in portions of Missouri, and to the eastern halves of Georgia and both Carolinas; however it is those in Texas that biologist Louise Hayes has been studying since 1985.
“As a people we have the right and the duty, second to none other but the right and duty of obeying the moral law, of requiring and doing justice, to protect ourselves and our children against the wasteful development of our natural resources, whether that waste is caused by the actual destruction of such resources or by making them impossible of development hereafter.”
Building upon one “premiere” species and the national park with which it is most strongly associated (Plains Bison and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, American Alligator and Everglades National Park, etc.) each month, the guide goes on to point out other parks where that species may be seen, other species that might also be seen in the same areas, and explains the ecological relationship they have to one another.
If there was ever a geographic location that needed a comprehensive reference guide to its amphibians and reptiles, the border states between the United States and Mexico is it. And not only a comprehensive reference guide, but a bilingual one. Therefore its exceptionally fortunate that Texas A&M University Press has recently published Amphibians and Reptiles of the US – Mexico Border States/Anfibios y reptiles de los estados de la frontera México – Estados Unidos.