Alligators, as we know them, first appeared around 85 million years ago. Paleontologists have found evidence that they were all different kinds. One lived in the ocean and had fins. Another was thought to look kind of like a cross between a crocodile and an armadillo. There is even one which looked more or less just like what we see to day,. except that it was estimated to b nearly forty feet long. And at ten footers, easy three, 400 pounds - nothing but muscle and armor.