1438 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



A TUBFUL OF BABY ALLIGATORS 

 Waiting to be stuffed. 



Alligators differ considerably in their courage. 

 Some will leave the nest after a few weak pro- 

 tests, while others will obstinately remain 

 sprawled over their precious rubbish heap and 

 have to be killed before their nest can be 

 robbed. The m^other alligator remains faith- 

 fully at her post until the time of hatching, in 

 which process she gives material assistance. 

 The two and a half months of alternate drench- 

 ing and baking by rain and sun often cakes the 

 nest mound with a hard-baked crust through 

 which the gatorlings would find it impossible to 

 force their way. So the parent bites into the 

 nest, tossing the outer shell to one side until the 

 pipped eggs or the newly hatched young are 

 exposed. When this is done she rolls out the 

 pipped eggs and pressing upon them with one 

 of her front feet, she cracks them and liberates 

 the young 'gator. The eggs which are still 

 whole she rolls back among the debris and 

 leaves until the low, nasal, squeaking grunts 

 announce that more are ready to emerge. The 

 young are able to hatch by themselves, but it is 

 usually a very long operation and many die in 

 the shells. 



I examined one which had had his little pug- 

 nosed snout thrust through the end of the shell 

 for twenty-four hours and was just about to 

 break a bit away from the hole when the little 

 reptile shot forth like a jack-in-the-box, free- 

 ing himself completely except for his tail. He 

 sprang from my hands into a basin of water, 

 where he dived and swam frantically, the bang- 

 ing of the tail-suspended shell against the tin 

 frightening the newh^ hatched reptile, and con- 

 veying a first impression of the world as a 

 fearsome, undesirable place. He blinked, rose 

 to the surface, shook off the egg shell, and turn- 



ing sideways snapped at a spot of sunlight. 

 For a day and night, the past twenty-four 

 hours, only the snout had projected. In three 

 seconds more the whole being of the perfect 

 gatorling was functioning, fuilv launched on 

 what would normally be a long and checkered 

 career. 



The mother alligator goes to the nests with 

 the 3'oung, and while some swim away and are 

 lost, or forage for themselves, yet many female 

 'gators are seen at other times of the year ac- 

 companied hj small ones of two distinct sizes, 

 which the hunters believe are the remnants of 

 the breeds of the two past years, still more or 

 less attendant upon her. 



The watchfulness of the parent is of course 

 a trait inherited through long past centuries, 

 and is in no way consequent upon the very re- 

 cent, desultor}^ robbing of the nests by man. 

 But it is curious that their worst enemy at pres- 

 ent is that most terrible pest introduced by man 

 from India, the mongoose. The only autochthon- 

 ous foe is the big tegu known locally as salim- 

 penta. Both of these enemies wait until the 

 parent alligator has gone away and then dig 

 their way down to the eggs. The big yellow- 

 tailed snake has been seen trying to force its 

 way through the crust of the rubbish, but in 

 vain. 



The mating season begins in April and is an- 

 nounced b}^ the females calling the males. The 

 proportions of sexes is very unequal, there 

 being twenty or more females to every male. 

 The cry of the female is a subdued but very 

 strong and penetrating grunt, often repeated. 

 The male's voice is a bellowing or roaring, and 

 when this is heard in the trench, every female 

 within hearing rushes toward him, ten or fifteen 



AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR CAREER 



After being stuffed. 



