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Letter from Frank and Jim Check out this issue's feature article Meet the staff - two legged, four legged and no legged This is a place just for fun
October/November 2004
Brought to you by your friends at Alligator Bayou


Click Here For Full Size Map Of The New Alligator Eco-Habitat

WATCH THE ACTION!
Movie 1 (455kb)Movie 1 (1.1kb)
Movie 2 (482kb)Movie 2 (974mb)
NEW GATORS - NEW HOME In October we completed our new 5.5-acre alligator eco-habitat. The new area for the alligators has a total of 6 ponds. Upon completion of the habitat, we purchased 30 new alligators of which we have caught and relocated 25. We've now got a total of 7 males and 18 females.

The alligators are all about 35 years old and this means they are perfect for breeding. The intent behind this exhibit is to restore the ecosystem at Alligator Bayou. We’re hoping to get the new gators to breed so we can release the babies into Bluff Swamp. Although the gator population in the swamp is decent, we’re hoping to increase bloodlines and numbers. Our gator exhibit is an excellent opportunity for visitors to get up-close and personal with these amazing ambassadors for Louisiana.

The alligators were purchased from the exhibit's designer Ron Whitaker and the exhibit is now open and future plans include a bird rookery and the introduction of deer. (See Map)


WHAT CAME FIRST THE GATOR OR THE EGG? We'll in our case it was the egg. But lo and behold, we know have babies... baby gators that is.

As you know our mating and egg-laying seasons were successful and we are excited to announce that we are now the proud fathers of 29 baby gators. Upon hatching, we removed the babies from the alligator habitat because the threat of predation on baby gators is very high. There is a less than 10% survival rate in the wild. Egrets, herons, raccoons, opossums, bullfrogs, snakes, fish, eagles and other wildlife prey on the babies. We will raise the young for approximately a year or so until they reach 18” in length and they become predators themselves.


TEACHING THROUGH TOUCH - FUN EDUCATION One of our goals at Alligator Bayou is the education of our next generation of leaders. We offer Educational Field Trips for schools with an emphasis on valuable ecological and historical information. Our schedule gets busier every year, so educators should contact us early for their field trips.

We also still have copies of our curriculum guide for teachers. This guide is a great tool to prepare and/or review their visit to Alligator Bayou. Parents who would like their children to visit for a field trip should contact the teacher to request a guide or brochure.


NEW LOOK FOR OUR HOME Our homepage that is..... We've recently updated our website homepage, www.alligatorbayou.com. The time had come for a "new" look and once again our webmaster, Orhan Mc Millan of Dezins - Print and Web Services (www.dezins.com) has outdone himself. Let us know what you think and please offer any suggestions on further improvements. Our goal is to keep the website new and updated to keep you, our visitors, coming back. The next step is to refurbish the inside pages to reflect the "new" style.
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