A team of hunters have killed the longest alligator ever caught in the Yazoo River in Mississippi. It broke the previous record for the "longest male alligator taken by a permitted hunter in Mississippi," which was captured near the western city of Natchez in 2017.

A Record-Breaking Catch

The colossal male alligator measured 14 feet and 3 inches (4.34 meters) long, beating the previous record by 2 inches. It also weighed 802.5 pounds (364 kilograms), according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP).

The animal was caught on August 26 during the 10-day alligator hunting season in Mississippi, which begins on the last Friday of August each year. According to Donald Woods, one of the members of the hunting team, the animal was caught during a calm night. They saw a lot of alligators that measure 8 feet (2.4 meters) and 10 feet (3 meters), but that is not what they were after.

They spotted the enormous beast around 9 p.m. local time but the team took seven hours to subdue and kill it. As Woods described, they hooked the animal eight or nine times and it kept breaking off. It was mentally exhausting for the hunters because it kept getting off.

The hunters only realized how large the alligator was after hoisting it onto their boat. They were amazed at the width of its back and the measurement of its head.

MDWFP Alligator Program coordinator Andrew Arnett was notified, and he officially measured and weighed the animal before a new record was announced. The hunting team posed with the captured beast at Red Antler Processing, a wild game processing facility in Yazoo City.

Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) are native to the southeastern region of the U.S. and can be found all across Mississippi. It is considered illegal to hunt and catch alligators outside the hunting season and without the special permit from the MDWFP. Those who obtain permits may capture two alligators more than 4 feet long (1.2 m) and one alligator over 7 feet long (2.1 m). This policy was created in order to distribute the hunting pressure across both adult and young animals.

The largest American alligator ever recorded was captured in 2014 in Alabama. It measured 15 feet and 9 inches (4.7 meters) and weighed 1,011.5 pounds (459 kg).

READ ALSO: 8-Foot Alligator Bullied by Gangster Sandhill Crane; Watch the Gator Running Back to Water [VIDEO]

How Big Do American Alligators Get?

American alligators are large crocodilians which can grow up to more than 12 feet (3.6 meters) long and weigh as much as 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms). The growth rates of alligators slow down as they get older. Several factors such as habitat, age, and sex also affect their size. Male alligators usually grow faster and larger than the female alligators, but they rarely exceed 13 feet (4 meters) in length.

There are claims that alligators don't age and that they would never die if left alone by hunters, diseases, and natural disasters. Some assume that these animals do not show signs of wearing down with age, but they only grow bigger and bigger until they are killed. They also believe that this is due to the animal's ability to survive extreme oxygen deprivation.

However, crocodile expert Adam Rosenblatt clarified that these are just myths. Studies conducted on several species of alligators reveal that once they reach their adult size, their growth slows down until they reach a point where they are not effectively getting any bigger.

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