Fake Crocodiles! Or are they Alligators?

While in Las Vegas I spotted a number of fake Crocodiles (or are they Alligators) and realised that this year I’ve seen a few on my travels, including some real ones at the Crocodile Enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire.

A BIG scary fake Crocodile at Fort Fun Adventure Golf in Eastbourne

It got me thinking, as I don’t know the difference between a Crocodile and an Alligator, and as an avid quiz fan I really ought to!

A quick search online led me to some information on the ever reliable Wikipedia, which shows that the main differences are:

• Alligators prefer freshwater
• Crocodiles can better tolerate seawater
• But both Alligators and Crocodiles can survive in either
• Alligators are darker in colour than Crocodiles, often nearly black
• Alligators have wider and shorter heads than Crocodiles
• Alligator’s heads are more u-shaped than a Crocodiles v-shaped head
• Alligator’s upper jaws are wider than their lower jaws
• Alligator’s teeth in the lower jaw fit into small depressions in the upper jaw
• Crocodile’s teeth fit together, as the upper and lower jaws are the same width
• Crocodiles have a jagged fringe on the hind legs and feet
• Alligators have webbed toes on their hind feet
• Crocodiles are more aggressive than Alligators

An animatronic Crocodile (v-shaped head) at the MGM Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas

A big fake Alligator (that looks more like a Crocodile) at the Alligator Bar at The Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas

A fake Crocodile (I think) at the Outback Steakhouse at Casino Royale in Las Vegas

I'm now pretty sure that it was a fake Crocodile that almost 'got me' at the Adventure Golf Course at Fort Fun in Eastbourne!

More photos of Alligators, or Crocodiles, spotted on our travels around and on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Three photos of the Crocodile at Barry Island's Smuggler's Cove Adventure Golf

A very unrealistic and unscary looking Crocodile at Great Yarmouth's Pleasure Beach Adventure Golf

A couple of snaps of the Crocodile at Lowestoft's East Point Family Golf

Not a Crocodile or an Alligator, but a Hippo - oddly this was in the water at Bottons Pleasure Beach Gold Mine Adventure Golf in Skegness, there was no sign of any Crocodiles or Alligators there, but the setting looked like there should've been!