American Alligator vs Bull Shark

[elosha11]

Jun 24, 2019 3:14:28 GMT 5 dinosauria101 said:

Jun 24, 2019 3:01:57 GMT 5 elosha11 said:

I'm highly dubious of any source claiming a 2000 pound gator. That's likely a tall tale. Even a 1000 pound gator is absolutely monstrous. I do agree that alligators can attain larger maximum size than bull sharks, but it's not anywhere close to 3 to 1. And in general, their size range overlaps quite a bit. Again 500 pound bull sharks are quite common, and that's already the size of a big gator. And both species can comfortably exceed that size.

As to aggression it's pretty well known that the big crocodiles are more aggressive than gators, even at the same sizes. When crocs and gators share habitats at zoos or nature preserves, generally the crocs dominate, even when they are the same size as gators. This is particularly true for nile and sw crocs. As far as the "average" weight of a gator, please note your 360ks is taking the very top end of that "average" range, and the low end is only 120 Kgs. The "average" of this huge average range is only 535 pounds, which again is a big gator, just like that weight range is big bull shark. I'm not sure why that source would say over 800 pounds is an "average" size gator, that's actually a very large specimen, way bigger than average.

I grew up around gators in Florida, and I'm telling you that they do not average 800 pounds, nowhere close to it.

This is a close match up and could go either way. It's definitely not a mismatch. I favor the bull shark at parity, but reasonable minds can differ.

Alligators vary in size a LOT from population to population, but this source 
web.archive.org/web/20160304090346/http://www.eparks.org/marine_and_coastal/marine_wildlife/alligator.asp
states the MOST COMMON average is 360 kg, and I think it's pretty reliable since it deals with national parks.
About less aggression and jaw strength, I meant they are good in that area in absolute terms, just maybe not compared to relatives.
I too favor the shark at parity, but IMO the gator is too large

Just looked at your national parks source, but it does not say anything about most common average being 360 kgs. It says:

Older male Alligators can mature to 14 feet long and weigh up to 1000 pounds.

All of which is true, but that's dealing with an uncommon, MAX SIZE, not the average size. And I note that bull sharks can also exceed 1000 pounds on occasion, so again, the sizes of these animals is really very close. Here's one example of a bull shark 1000+ pounds. I've posted another example somewhere else on WoA, but I can't find it now.

[dinosauria101]

Jun 24, 2019 16:54:06 GMT 5 elosha11 said:

Jun 24, 2019 3:14:28 GMT 5 dinosauria101 said:

Alligators vary in size a LOT from population to population, but this source 
web.archive.org/web/20160304090346/http://www.eparks.org/marine_and_coastal/marine_wildlife/alligator.asp
states the MOST COMMON average is 360 kg, and I think it's pretty reliable since it deals with national parks.
About less aggression and jaw strength, I meant they are good in that area in absolute terms, just maybe not compared to relatives.
I too favor the shark at parity, but IMO the gator is too large

Just looked at your national parks source, but it does not say anything about most common average being 360 kgs. It says:

Older male Alligators can mature to 14 feet long and weigh up to 1000 pounds.

All of which is true, but that's dealing with an uncommon, MAX SIZE, not the average size. And I note that bull sharks can also exceed 1000 pounds on occasion, so again, the sizes of these animals is really very close. Here's one example of a bull shark 1000+ pounds. I've posted another example somewhere else on WoA, but I can't find it now.

My mistake, but the average does vary a LOT from place to place, so as I said, different population, different outcome
I could certainly see that bull shark beating some gator populations