A loggerhead sea turtle repeats an age old process as she comes ashore to lay her eggs. Teens share some little known reptile trivia. Jesse and Gina build their own alligator nest during a messy, but fun, hands on experiment. Brian visits a monitor lizard at Busch Gardens. Address misconceptions and unfounded fears, especially concerning snakes.
Alligators build their nests from materials like twigs, leaves, and bark.
They use mud to pack these materials together. The eggs are incubated by heat produced from the decaying vegetation. The male to female ratio of the hatchling alligators is dependent upon the temperature inside the nest. At or below 88 degrees, the hatchlings are all females. If the temperature is 93 or above the hatchlings are all males.