A video footage showed that alligators mostly hunt during the night although the probability of a catching a prey is higher during the morning.
The researchers led by James Nifong from the University of Florida studied a group of American-alligators to discover more about their foraging and hunting behaviors. The alligators were from Guana River and Merrit Island National Wildlife Range which are located along the coast of Florida.
The researchers attached National Geographic Society's Crittercams to 15 adult alligators. They were able to install the cameras by capturing the alligators for 20 minutes before they were released again into the wild. Crittercams have been used to follow and study almost 60 species, including jumbo squids and penguins.
After a few hours, the scientists looked into the video footage captured by the camera to gather more information on how the alligators catch their prey. The video recordings were also used to determine the frequency by which the alligators hunt and how successful they were when they go looking for a prey.
"We discovered that alligators forage at all times of the day, but increasingly during the night and evening hours, however they were most successful in the morning and while attacking prey below the surface," said James Nifong in a press release.
Results of the study also showed that the success rate for finding a prey is 50 percent; out of 59 attacks recorded, 31 resulted in catching the prey. The data also showed that alligators tend to attack their prey repeatedly for a period of an hour. One alligator was recorded to have made 18 attacks in just an hour.
The video footage also showed that the alligators increase their success rate of capturing a prey by 50 percent when they are submerged. However, there are times when the alligators will come to the surface to pursue a prey.
"If submerged at the time of prey capture, alligators often surfaced to immobilize, crush, reposition, and swallow captured prey," the researchers noted in their study.
The study was published in the Jan. 15 issue of PLOS One.
