‘One bite can be eatening’
All hands, bodies and eyes on deck for raids
THERE have to be less intense ways to earn a living, but maybe not as much fun. Just ask the staff at the Australian Reptile Park, Somersby, who are right in the middle of raiding the nests of their American alligators. The park’s congregation of females has just started laying eggs, so it’s been all hands and bodies on deck in preparation for the collection of up to 400 eggs. Operations manager Tim Faulkner said the park housed the largest collection of American alligators in Australia, with about 40 reptiles. “There are 10 males, four of which are in excess of four metres in length,” he said. Gator-raiding requires five very brave reptile keepers, four to restrain “mum” while the other raids the nests. Then, of course, there are also fi ve pairs of eyes on the lookout for other gators in the lagoon who might just want to get in on some human action. Big Momma, a 20-year-old, three-metre- long gator was one of the fi rst to get the hands- on treatment.
“The mother is in a high maternal state and aggressively guards her eggs, so extreme care must be taken,” Mr Faulkner said. “American alligators have one of the strongest jaw pressures of any animal and one bite can be a limb or even life-threatening. “Alligator mothers are excellent protectors and defend their young extremely well. “In the wild, she’ll guard the eggs until they hatch, then gently dig the hatchlings out, take them in her mouth to the water and protect them while they grow and learn survival skills. “The juvenile alligators will disperse after a couple of months and their biggest threat is other alligators.”
‘One bite can be life-thrlife-threatening’
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GOT SOME: Operations manager Tim Faulkner shows the proceeds of a raid while reptile keeper Billy Collett keeps Big Momma in check. Photo: G3 PHOTOGRAPHY.
Due to the cooler weather late last year, egg laying has been delayed.
“Alligators are ectothermic, which means they require external heat to function. They can’t warm their bodies internally like we do. They get warmth from the sun, so it’s not that they’ve laid late, they actually bred late because of the delayed start to spring.”
Once the eggs are harvested, some will be selected for incubation. The sex of an alligator is determined by the heat of the incubation and baby gators will hatch about 70 days later. The Australian Reptile Park is the only zoo
in Australia that breeds American alligators and supply other zoos in Australia and internationally.
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www.newcastlepost.com.au THE NEWCASTLE POST Wednesday, January 25, 2012 13
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