For 63 alligators caught in Lake George, Florida, Table 7.16 classifies primary food choice as (fish, invertebrate, other) and shows length in meters. Alligators are called subadults if length < 1.83 meters (6 feet) and adults if length > 1.83 meters.

a. Measuring length as (adult, subadult), find a model that adequately describes effects of gender and length on food choice. Interpret the effects. For adult females, find the estimated probabilities of the food-choice categories.

b. Treating length as binary loses information. Adapt the model in part (a) to use the continuous measurements. Interpret, explaining how the estimated outcome probabilities vary with length. Find the estimated length at which the invertebrate and other categories are equally likely.

Table 7.16:

Females Males Length Choice (m) Length (m) Length (m) Choice Choice Length (m) Choice 1.30 1.32 1.80 1.24 2.56 1.85 1.30 2.67 2.72 1.32 1.93 1.93 1.98 2.03 1.45 1.45 1.55 1.60 2.79 1.40 1.42 1.42 2.84 1.47 2.03 1.60 2.31 1.65 1.47 1.50 2.36 1.78 1.52 1.63 2.46 1.78 3.25 1.80 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 3.28 1.88 3.33 3.56 3.58 2.16 2.26 2.31 1.68 3.66 3.68 2.36 2.39 2.41 1.70 1.73 3.71 1.78 3.89 2.44 1.78