For many years, alligator skin was popular in the United States for making fashionable shoes and handbags. From 1870 to 1965, at least 10 million alligators were killed in the United States for their skins. Then, the government passed laws against hunting alligators. After that, the alligattor population began to grow again. Now there are
no more alligators in the United States
fewer alligators than there were in 1967
more alligator skins for making shoes and purses
nearly 2 million alligators in the United States