Abstract
Procedures for both obtaining and maintaining American alligators are described in this report. Several animals were housed in a group living space with access to a swimming tank. Weekly feedings of several hundred live minnows sufficed to maintain eight American alligators for some 2 yr. Force-feeding was described and recommended for young animals which did not eat spontaneously. Several studies using a two-choice alley maze were outlined. After several procedures failed to obtain stable responding, aversive heat escape conditioning was effective in generating stable response and running times. Approaches to asymptotic baselines were again revealed following two discrimination reversals. Running times were relatively constant, while errors and pauses appeared to contribute to the longer response times.
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