News From the Field
How Alligators Rock and Roll

March 13, 2008

Without a ripple in the water, alligators dive, surface or roll sideways, even though they lack flippers or fins. University of Utah biologists discovered gators maneuver silently by using their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib muscles to shift their lungs like internal flotation devices: toward the tail when they dive, toward the head when they surface, and sideways when they roll. Full Story

Source
University of Utah

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