Douglas David Seifert The adult alligator has 80 teeth and a tail that can dislocate a person's jaw with a single whack. "They get a bad rap for being stupid little reptiles," says a scientist who studies — and admires — them. WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 - To the casual observer, an adult alligator afloat in an algae-dappled pond, its six-foot body motionless save for the sporadic darting of its devilish amber eyes, might conjure up any number of images, none of them fuzzy-wuzzy. A souvenir dinosaur. A log with teeth. A handbag waiting to happen. For Dr. Daphne Soares,...