Alligator Hatchlings!

We are excited to announce the birth of four alligator hatchlings at our Lowcountry Zoo.

If you remember, our female alligator laid 48 eggs in July of 2012.  The eggs were removed and incubated, but none were fertile.  Zookeepers watched her nest building this year, and we removed 49 eggs on August 1, 2013.

 She was not super happy with us!  We cannot allow the eggs to hatch on exhibit because the male may eat them, and they could escape through the fencing.  For the same reason, we can't release the hatchlings back to the exhibit.

 

The eggs were very carefully removed and labeled by our keeper Caleb and summer intern Dacota.  We can't allow the eggs to turn, or the egg will never develop.

Back at the office, the 49 eggs were candled.  The wide opaque band in the center means that the egg could be fertile.  We kept and incubated 23 fertile eggs at 30.5 degrees Celsius.

We also weighed each egg.  Most zoos use grams and kilograms instead of ounces and pounds.

On September 14th, we noticed chirping, and one of the eggs had a gator nose sticking out.

When they did not hatch on their own, our new zookeeper Heather helped two chirping alligators out of their shells.

The next day we assisted with another baby gator, and we hatched our fourth on the 18th.

We will be choosing one or two alligators to keep and use as animal ambassadors in our programs.  They will be an occasional guest at the Meet the Animals program.  The program and our two zoo tours are held daily, and they are free with garden admission.  We have arranged for another zoo to take any additional hatchlings.

Update on New Otters

We have been working very hard to introduce our two orphaned otters to their new social groups.  Smell is very important to North American River Otters.  In the wild, otters visit latrine areas and smell what is going on with other otter groups.  The first step in introducing two otters is often switching bedding and toys between the two otters.  The next step is visiting hours!  Zookeepers place the otters where they can see each other, but not interact too closely.  When they are ready, we place them in two adjacent areas that are seperated by small mesh.  This step often takes the longest, and sometimes the otters can only handle 15 minutes with their new acquaintance.  Next, we open the door for a "full introduction".

I'm pleased to announce that our new male has made good friends with our three young males.  They are currently on our outdoor tidal exhibit, and we hope to try him in River Basin Retreat next week.  If you see a group of four otters, he is the smallest!

Unrelated female otters are more difficult to introduce.  They take a lot more time, and sometimes the females never make friends.  Our new young female was unusually easy to mix with our older female, the mother of our otter triplets in 2011.  We think that she feels a bit motherly toward the young otter.  Now, we just need to introduce our older male to the two females!   If you see one otter in an exhibit, it is our older male.  We work on his introduction to the females at night, and we hope to have the three of them on exhibit very soon.

Otter Pile!  These pictures are from our last group of four otters

- our oldest female and her three triplets.