THE STATE (Columbia, S Carolina) 18 April 07 Don’t get in the way of gators’ path to love - It’s mating season and they might stroll through yards to find partners (Daniel Brownstein)
Hilton Head Island — Love is in the lagoons.
Or, more accurately, there’s a primal desire to reproduce in those murky waters.
April marks the beginning of alligator mating season, two months when males will stroll up to several miles to find a receptive female, even if that means trekking across backyards, patios and streets.
Dominant males become territorial, staking out their preferred locale and running off smaller subordinates.
So take a few extra steps back from that pond, avoid the nests and know that it’s a time of year when the typically passive reptiles are on the move, especially at night.
“Don’t approach them,” said Joe Maffo, owner of Critter Management on Hilton Head Island. “Gators aren’t going to turn around and attack you if they’re going through your yard. They have a destination in mind.”
These rough creatures have a surprisingly tender mating ritual. It begins with the male swimming circles around the female, sizing her up. He quivers his backbone to make vibrations in the water and lets out a bellow, or low moan.
Gradually, the two gators start touching each other around the face and neck. They frolic in the water, rolling around before the belly-to-belly mating begins, which typically lasts between 10 and 15 minutes.
“It’s a spectacular sight,” Maffo said.
Females lay an average of 40 eggs in heaps of rotting vegetation about two months after mating. The nests — usually within 15 feet of water — are circular and stick up a foot or two above ground.
“She’s going to pick a place that’s out of the way, some place fairly remote where she can guard her nest,” said Dean Harrigal, a state wildlife biologist.
But in rapidly developing places like southern Beaufort County, there’s a good chance that remote location will be in someone’s shrubbery, under a home or in the grass at the edge of a popular lagoon.
Mom stays close by to defend her offspring and won’t hesitate to ferociously charge. After two months of incubation, she digs up the seven-inch hatchlings and carries them by mouth to the water, where she tries to protect them from birds, raccoons and other alligators.
Most won’t survive.
Don’t get in the way of gators’ path to love