12 Field Museum of Natural History 



few places are now left where it can still be said to be 

 abundant. Perhaps the most important of these 

 refuges are parts of the Florida Everglades and the 

 great Okefinokee Swamp of southern Georgia. In 

 these places, at least for the present, the alligator is 

 probably safe from extinction. The great interest 

 that the animal has for naturalists and its importance 

 as one of the most characteristic North American 

 animals, make its growing scarcity a matter of regret 

 to all nature lovers. 



The fact that the alligator is of such great interest 

 to tourists (whether naturalists or not), may prove 

 to be an important factor in saving the species from 

 extinction. They seem to breed freely in captivity. 

 The first "alligator farm" was established in 1895, and 

 there are now at least eight "farms" in the United 

 States. It would not be practicable to raise alligators 

 for their skins alone, on account of their relatively 

 slow rate of growth, but when the sale of baby alli- 

 gators to tourists, the sale of larger specimens to 

 zoological parks, and possibly an additional fee for 

 visitors to the establishment are combined, the raising 

 of alligators becomes a practical business. 



The capture of wild alligators, alive, is by no means 

 an easy process. It is effected by means of noosing, or 

 with a large hook placed on the end of a pole which is 

 inserted into the alligator's under-water retreat. The 

 first farms where alligators were kept, were estab- 

 lished primarily to accustom them to captivity and to 

 taking food, preparatory to shipping them to zoolog- 

 ical gardens, aquariums, and circuses. The demand 

 for baby alligators for souvenirs led to the practice of 

 hatching the eggs taken from the nests of wild alli- 

 gators in incubators. This may be done by main- 

 taining them at a temperature of 80 degrees F., and 

 moistening them daily to prevent drying. Alligator 



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