Reptiles page 2

Animal Stories: Baby alligators are, like most other young animals, extremely cute. They look like little plastic toys, bobbing in the vegetation, with their striking black and yellow markings. To make the impression even more vivid, they utter little squeaking sounds that don't sound in the least bit reptilian. While very young they are not strong swimmers and so usually hide amidst the water plants in a group, with their mother watching nearby. Whenever I've encountered a group of young alligators, my first thought is to make sure that the mother is not large. Usually I can see her floating nearby and the average length of a female alligator is often only 6 or 7 feet. As I position my kayak to take photos of the babies, the mother will watch, but not approach, probably because of the size of the kayak (13 feet). I've always tried to spend as little time as possible intruding on the youngsters, since they are very vulnerable at that age and need to just eat and grow as quickly as they can.

Alligator (Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, taken from a boat) Alligator (Myakka River State Park, Florida) Alligator (Florida Aquarium, Tampa) Alligator (Everglades National Park, Florida) Alligator (Blue Springs State Park, Florida) Alligator (Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, taken from a boat) Alligator (captive, Homosassa Springs State Park, Florida) Alligator (Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia) Alligator & Cooter (captive, Silver Springs, Florida) Turtle (zoo) Cooters (zoo) Cooters (Florida Aquarium, Tampa)