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VIDEO: Watch baby alligators hatch, and chirp for mom
Watch as baby alligators hatch from their eggs and 'chirp' for mom. The gators were recently born at Gatorland Orlando.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Do alligators hatch from eggs? What do they look like when they're first born? Do they make noise?
New video – adorable video, we might add – shared with FOX 35 shows a bunch of baby alligators moments after hatching from their eggs, and exploring their habitats for the first time. Video shows a couple of the baby gators working hard to make their way out of their shells, a few others making vocal sounds, and some quickly scurrying about, climbing over the other eggs.
Watch and listen to the video above.
These gators were hatched at Gatorland Orlando, which is home to dozens of alligators.
A spokesperson for Gatorland said most gators hatch between the middle of August and beginning of September. And females typically lay between 35-40 eggs in their nests.
The baby gators will be monitored for the next several days and weeks to ensure they're developing properly, according to Gatorland. Their diet will consist of red meat, chicken, and croce chow pellets. Eventually, they'll be transferred somewhere at the park.
In the wild, baby gators begin to fend for themselves. They're born with 74 tweet and "come out of the egg ready to go," the spokesperson said. Mom will typically protect her babies for up to a year – maybe two at most.
There are some 1.3 million alligators in Florida, and they can be found in all 67 counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The American alligator is Federally protected and considered a threatened species, but