2 months after hatching before the winter. A 2002 study showed that the Chinese alligator is two-thirds the length of the American alligator and one-half its weight at birth, but is one-half its length and one-tenth its weight after one year. Young depend on their mothers to protect them during their first winter, as their small size makes them an easy prey target. The alligator grows quickly in its first few years, with its growth rate slowing at age five. According to the National Zoological Park, females reach maturity roughly four to five years after birth, although other sources estimate that they mature at age six to seven. It can live to over 50 years, and has been known to reach age 70 in captivity. It cannot breed past its 50s. Feeding The Chinese alligator is an opportunistic feeder, meaning that it can prey on a variety of different animals depending on what is available. It is a carnivore, mostly eating fish and invertebrates, such as crustaceans, insects, mussels, clams, and snails. When possible, it eats rodents, other small mammals, and aquatic birds as well. It has dull teeth, which allow it to eat prey with shells more easily. There is some speculation that they may prey on turtles as well. A study of the alligator in 1985 showed that snails were the most common animal in its diet at 63%, with 65% of that being river snails and 35% spiral-shelled snails. According to the survey, its diet also contained 16% rabbits, 8.3% mollusks, and 4.1% shrimp, with the remaining 6.8% being frogs, fish, and insects. Vocalization The Chinese alligator is a vocal species, making many different sounds in multiple situations. When communicating with nearby alligators, it produces sounds such as head slapping, hissing, and whining, which have a low sound pressure level (SPL). To communicate long-distance, it produces bellows, which have a high SPL. All of these sounds have a low frequency of less than 500 hertz, due to the alligator's densely vegetated habitat, which allow the sounds to spread across a greater area. Both sexes participate in bellowing choruses during the mating season as adults. Lasting an average of 10 minutes, the alligators remain still for the entirety of the chorus, with both sexes responding equally in rough unison. The main purpose of these bellows is to call out to alligator specimens to collect at a specific pond,