Dolphin Lure
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How did evolution affect alligators?
I have read that alligators are one of the few holdovers from the dinosaur era. If this is true, it seems that they are "stuck in the mud" on evolution. While humans evolved from homo habilis and cro-magnon, etc to stand upright and develop highly complex auditory functions....alligators got the short end of the stick. By this time, they probably should have been able to walk upright or swim much faster (say, the speed of a dolphin at LEAST) or even be able to lure their prey into their mouths with fake bait that is really part of their nose (like some deep-sea fish).
What caused this lack of evolution? Are their brains incapable of learning these evolutionary tactics?
Crocodilians are well-adapted to their particular environments. Alligators are great for the freshwater environments which have been available in the southeastern USA.
But there was a time long ago when adaptive radiation made a land-adapted offshoot of the crocodilians to be feasible. The descendants of these land crocs are still with us today. We call them "birds."