How can I find out whether an alligator is a male or female?
Well, if your “friend” legally owns these alligators he or she should already know how to tell male from female, BUT, just this once…. The vent or cloaca located at the base of the tail, you stick a finger in there, if you feel something, you’ve got a male, if you don’t it’s a female… we’re not probing snakes here, we’re actually feeling for an alligator penis, yes, I said alligator penis. When probing snakes males probe deeper because they need a recess for the hemipenes, vent depths on an alligator aren’t necessarily indicitave of the gender of the alligator, what you find IN there is. On mature alligators you can somewhat tell by the shape of the vent, but on a young one, this is the way to do it, and it is NOT a good way to make friends with an alligator.
