Alligator Farm (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. An alligator farm or crocodile farm is an establishment for breeding and raising of crocodilians in order to produce meat, leather, and other goods. Many species of both alligators and crocodiles are farmed internationally, and occasionally the term ranch is also used. Though not truly domesticated, alligators and crocodiles have been bred in farms since at least the early 20th century. However, the vast majority of these early businesses were farms in name only; primarily keeping alligators and crocodiles as a tourist attraction. The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, established in 1893, is a prime example of this early type of alligator farm. Only in the 1960s did commercial operations that either harvested eggs from the wild or bred alligators on-site begin to appear. This was largely driven by diminishing stocks of wild alligators, which had been hunted nearly to extinction around this time.