180 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



Early Life of Baby 'Gators 



If the little 'gators hatch irregularly, the first hatched 

 lie in the nest until all that are to hatch are out of the 

 shells. The mother, which does not stay about the nest 

 during the incubating period of nine or ten weeks, hears 

 the little ones "holler," as an old-time 'gator hunter puts it, 

 and answers their call by giving a little, sucking-like 

 "umph," many times repeated. The little 'gators clamber 

 down from the grass heap and the cow leads the brood over 

 land to water. She clears the way, constantly calling, 

 "umph, umph, umph," and the little fellows follow, answer- 

 ing her cries. All the little ones take readily to water, the 

 cow forming a black mud bank or "shelf" where the young 

 sun themselves and eat the mud worms, and other insect 

 life that forms their first food. As they grow they eat min- 

 nows, -crayfish, bugs, and the larvae of water insects. The 

 little 'gators are preyed upon from the time they leave the 

 nest. Bullfrogs eat a great many, while the male alligators 

 eat them up to the age of two and three years. 



At the time they hatch, the alligators are from 5 to 7 

 inches in length. They grow from 4 to 6 inches the first 

 year; in two years they are from 16 to 18 inches in length. 

 From three years and up they grow rapidly until they 

 reach the length of five feet; then they grow only about lVa 

 to 2 inches a year. On their native marsh they grow much 

 faster than they do in captivity, it is believed, but figures 

 as to their length in relation to the time they have been in 

 captivity are the only accurate data we have as to the rela- 

 tionship of age to total length. 



By combining notes on three series of alligators in cap- 

 tivity in the reptile house of the New York Zoological Park, 

 Curator Raymond Lee Ditmars arrived at the following 

 conclusions regarding the age and growth of the alligator. 

 This table, opposite page, it should be remembered, is based 

 upon reptiles in captivity, where some suppose they grow 

 much more slowly and believe that they probably mature 

 later than they would do in their natural habitat. Dr. Dit- 

 mar's table indicates that the alligator grows faster than 

 we have supposed it did. 



