THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 57 



CHAPTER IV 

 RATE OF GROWTH AND SIZE 



Young alligators are hatched from an egg having a di- 

 mension of about two and six-tenths inches long by one and 

 six-tenths inches wide, the average length of the newly- 

 hatched little ones is about nine inches. 



Under favorable conditions they grow much more rap- 

 idly than naturalists have generally supposed. 



The only record I have been able to find of the growth 

 of alligators where the age of the individuals under ob- 

 servation was positively known, was made by Mr. Raymond 

 L. Ditmars, curator of reptiles of the Bronx Zoological 

 Park. In his "Reptile Book," page eighty-six, he gives the 

 average growth and weight of five alligators each year for 

 five years. At the end of the fifth year he states: u The 

 specimens showed an average length of five feet, six inches 

 and weighed fifty pounds." He further states that the al- 

 ligators were u kept in a large tank heated to a temperature 

 of about 90 F." He further states: u ln a wild state 

 growth is undoubtedly more rapid than here noted." 



I have, during my study of the alligator, kept accurate 

 records of the rate of growth, both length and weight, of 

 a number of alligators taken from the nest which were 

 weighed, measured, toe-marked for identification and liber- 

 ated with the mother in a large wooded pond on Avery 

 Island. The following data on their growth is illumi- 

 nating. 



First, we will compare the rate in growth of alligators 

 under natural conditions at Avery Island where they take 

 no food for the five months during hibernation, with those 

 kept in confinement in a regular temperature of about ninety 



