A mother Alligator will stay around her young for two to three years; the juveniles are on their own to eat but she will ward off predators. They often can be seen piled on each other, probably to control temperature and some sense of protection when they are very young.
They all appeared to be ignoring us but you can see the “king of the hill” opened his eyes between my first and second shots.
You can easily pick out five juveniles above, there were three or four down by momma’s tail, and I’m sure more we couldn’t see in the grass.
Just based on my observations I’d say these are around six months old.
That is an amazing photo, I have alligators out my door and have seen the little ones playing but never seen one resting on Mom. That is an awesome photo.
Thank you, Alice, glad that you enjoyed it. Wow, how cool to have that in your yard!
Loveable reptiles!
Who knew?
From a distance, yes!
Not me, when I was a New Englander 🙂