USA/Florida: Everglades NP Revisited – Alligators & Reptiles

The 15 mile (24km) bike loops at the Shark Valley in the heart of Everglades NP is an awesome place to come face to face with alligators. And in February there is an added bonus – baby gators just hatched and you can spot super tiny ones hanging around mama gators. Interestingly, the gender of baby gators is determined by the temperature in the nest in the first 31 days after the eggs are laid – under 30C makes all males, while above that produces all females. The babies hang around (or often on top) of their mother, slowly learning to swim and hunt. The total of gators I saw this time on the Shark Valley loop was 62 plus about two dozen a babies, a bit short of the previous record of 87.
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