Cool carved wood alligator folk art? Carved symbol artist's signature?

I found this Friday at my local thrift store. I think the work that went into carving each square 'scale'(?) is pretty cool.
It measures 30" long, has small piece of mirror or something reflective in each eye & looks like it was carved from one piece of wood.
There's no signature anywhere but there is an unusual symbol carved in the underside - could that be the artist's signature?
Is this folk art?
Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

Close up of symbol + photo I took inside shows contrast from squares & borders better

 

That is not a symbol....... It's just where a certain body part pops out.

 

Might look at carved Sepik River crocodiles from Papua New Guinea:

https://www.google.com/search?q=car...&ved=0ahUKEwiRxuiA2MLvAhUPTN8KHeztAuoQ4dUDCAc

~Cheryl

 

lol. Kudos to the artist for being anatomically correct!

 

maybe - but their's are all crocodiles that I saw (longer nose) while mine is a alligator.

 

He might be a caiman, with the prominent raised eyes, bulb on the snout, smooth scales on the body and ridged scales on his fat tail, so the carving may be Central or South American.

 

Heh, grew up in Florida, am well aware of the differences between alligators and crocodiles (though our crocs only live down south, and aren't common there) - but this is not a stuffed reptile, it's a wooden carving, subject to the carver's skill and interpretation. Personally, while there are numerous variations, would look at the style of the carving, the shells, discs of shell, etc. used in the prominent eyes, even the circular snout tip, the representation of the genital pouch, and the feet facing back are common to Papuan crocodile carvings...




https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Two-Lar...-New-Guinea-Crocodile-Figurines-/254528619810


http://ancientpoint.com/inf/166345-...iled_baby_crocodile_wood_carving_pacific.html


https://tinyurl.com/p3n7um5e







https://www.catawiki.com/l/28113861-painted-bowl-crocodile-1-wood-sepik-papua-new-guinea


https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...5b727d-ea57-466b-8e40-a43d00ec4379#lotDetails






https://www.southwaikato.govt.nz/ou...ture/talking-poles/details/new-guinea-carving





https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo-crocodylus-porosus-nature-image00700406.htmlhttps://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo-crocodylus-porosus-nature-image00700406.html


https://www.wikiwand.com/en/New_Guinea_crocodile



To my eye, this version, with its extremely long skinny nose and total lack of teeth, is much less like the actual critter than yours:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/294037019524https://www.ebay.com/itm/294037019524



All that said, would think a Gator fan would be happy to have it...


~Cheryl