Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Quiz Tuesday part 21

See that pile of brush on the right? That's an alligator nest, also known as the mound.

In June, the female lays about 40 eggs which take 65 days to hatch (higher temperatures during incubation result in males, while slightly cooler temperatures, result in females). The mother alligator will actually assist the hatchlings to break out of their shells. She hears the baby grunt from inside the shell and lifts the egg in her mouth and rolls it around against the roof of her mouth with her tongue. This cracks the egg and the little one is able to escape.

The mother will stay with her offsprings for several months and protect them from predators, including daddy dearest, who will fed on them ;-).

Today's question: How many alligators can you find in the photo (feel free to enlarge it)?

PS If you are really good, next time I'll describe the alligator courtship ;-)

41 comments:

rauf said...

oh my Gaad ! this tuesday comes so fast and this silly girl can't even wait for the sun to rise. Readdddy with a question, Fingers itching at 3 in the morning to slap the question at us.

One two i see two of them there, you count the rest, wait wait, i see three in water that makes 5, are you giving them swimming lessons Isabella ? No, 4 in the water, that makes 6

Carol E. said...

six?

rauf said...

Still searching counting, but tell me what are you doing there ? mama would come any minute.

Nikon said...

I think I see six.

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

very interesting!

Olivier said...

je ne savais que les papas alligators avaaient autant d'amour pour leurs petits au point d'essayer de les manger. post interressant.
je dirais six


I did not know that the dads alligators avaaient as much love for their small at the point to try to eat them. post interesting. I would say six

alice said...

I would say 9 cute babies and 1 tender mum (on the right). If i'm right, they could get a "carte famille nombreuse" in France...

kuanyin333 said...

Do those bubbles in the water count as alligators? Then possibly six...but I'm sure you have an alligator up your sleeve somewhere, right?

JaamZIN said...

I saw 6 aligators..plus the other 200 waiting under the water:)

Anonymous said...

I counted 6. Nice photo.

Abraham Lincoln
Brookville Daily Photo

lv2scpbk said...

I see 7 of them. I think there is one on the far right hand side. I'm wondering, Did you count them or are you just asking us to count them to make us look silly? LOL.

isa said...

Lv2scpbk - LOL! a little bit of both ;-)

Come on, people, you are not trying hard enough! I know the photo is not the greatest, but you are being plain lazy ;-) There is more than 6...

Lori said...

I would say 9 all together. I like your quizes - such a good idea!

Monica said...

I never thought I´d be counting alligators on a tuesady... but here it goes: 8?

Anonymous said...

I am picking ten since everyone else has between 6 and 9. I saw the gameshow where each one guesses the price and the closest wins.
How close did you really get to them?

~tanty~ said...

I think it's 10, but I'm not sure with the last one. So I will go with 9.

Jilly said...

I was about to say 40 until I read those damned eggs don't hatch till June so I'll say 13. My birthday. Friday too! My mother never recovered.

You might guess therefore, that this is a wild gator guess.

Anonymous said...

This is another one of your trick questions. You said "find" not "see." Hmm, I'll take the six I can see and add 5 for good measure. 11.

Dsole said...

6!!!

I want to know that about the alligator courtship... sounds interesting ;)

Z said...

Gaah! I'm not getting any closer, thank you very much! In fact, I had to scroll down to avoid the photo and the text to comment (I'm eating dinner, you know). Enjoyed your French politics post, and should have commented there, I suppose but there are already 26 entries and I want to feel at least a little special. :-)

Thanks for your visit to Villigen.

Anonymous said...

All right, I won't comment on the numbers but on the photo . IT'S FUN, IT'S BRILLIANT, IT'S GREAT !

Now, were they hatching all around you and recognising you as their mother or have you finally bought that huge zoom for your safety?

Zannnie said...

how about 17?

be careful, dun get too near........

Ming the Merciless said...

Isabella, did the vet ask you to neuter your pets? Now the neighbors are going to be upset with all that baby gators running around the backyard again.

tfangel said...

Too many to be that close, that's for sure. ;) I really hope that was a good telephoto.

Deb said...

Aarrrgh-my monitor here is so disgustingly bad---even the rabbit ears don't help.
Difficult to say because of the aforementioned inferior monitor-I see a blob over there, some sort of rippling over there, and some globs of something down there.
So I'm going to guess 9.

blueboat said...

6 I think? very scary. Now you must tell us about alligator lurve..

Janet said...

How about eight? That's counting the suspicious-looking bumps in the water.

Anonymous said...

Two on land and three in the water. Maybe four in the water but I'm not sure on the fourth ... Thank you for your kind words of support in your recent comment on my blog. I am just now getting to browse the daily photo post for the past week and I'm enjoying the photos a lot. Your post today gave me a smile.

Kate said...

I'll say 0 because they're all crocodiles, not alligators!!

Felicia said...

12 males and 5 females = 17 total. Fascinating hatching technique!

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

My guess: 7 ..actually i saw 6 and then read ur comment saying there are more than 6..so added one to the count , cheater that I am ..:)
tho' my button-eyes still can't spot more than 6!!!

Nikon said...

I'm going to change my guess to 7 (from 6) but like Zsolt says we're not counting the hordes under the water?
Is Jaws your favorite movie?

JAM said...

Great catch, I see six definitely.

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

10 my fine eye suggest 10. What am I going to win ? :-))

isa said...

There were 14 of them!

Jilly - you were the closest, so congratulations and a gros bisou!

Kuanyin and Nikon - yes, those bubbles in the water count as alligators!

Fabrizio - it's not the winning that's important, but how you play the game ;-)

You are all winners in my book! Thanks for playing along...

Psst...don't reveal the answer to Rauf...I think he's still counting...

rauf said...

adjusting and cleaning my spects rubbing my eyes and still counting.
so you are keeping a book ! ahaa!
Better buy me a new pair of spectacles before you slap a question like that. I am glad that i was not standing there with you and counting, after reaching home, i'd have found two fingers two toes less.

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

""Fabrizio - it's not the winning that's important, but how you play the game ;-)"" -- Of course Isabella, the mine was a joke in fact.

Monica said...

14!!! I´d never guess! Well, I didn´t know the bubles counted too!

Gerald (SK14) said...

I missed this but having read all the comments it is probably as well. I'm going to save my eyes and not to find them.

Now I'll scroll up and take a look at the yogi -- not that I'm going to be practicing any of that either!

Oya said...

I was gonna say 6, but 14? I have to go back now...

Kala said...

wow Isabella! Your original photos are huge - I saw three but I dunno I jus wanted to get outta there before they bite me!!!