{"id":6067,"date":"2014-12-20T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/p4td.lightshedder.com\/?p=6067"},"modified":"2014-12-20T06:29:52","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T11:29:52","slug":"alligator-cuteness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=6067","title":{"rendered":"Alligator Cuteness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Baby Alligators. Shark Valley. Everglades NP<\/p><\/div>\n

I suppose it is part of our nature to find babies cute…and not only the babies of our own species. This appears to be a nursery pile of very young Alligators. There were more than 30 in a short stretch of channel along West Road in the\u00a0Shark Valley of Everglades National Park…too many to be single clutch. There were also two adolescent gators, perhaps 3 years old (though there is no safe way to judge the age of an alligator), too young, I would think, to have babies of their own, apparently on-guard…and I assume a couple of larger females in the immediate area in case of attack, though I did not see them. The Alligator is not vulnerable to predication…except at this age, when even an ambitious Great Blue Heron might do for and unprotected hatchling. This is also the age when they are taken for the pet trade, though I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind buying an animal that they know will grow to\u00a02 feet long at one year, and will totally out-grow any cuteness and reach\u00a06 feet long in six.<\/p>\n

Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1\/1250th @ ISO 2000 @ f6.3. the high shutter speed was necessary, as I had to hand hold this above my head, using the flip out LCD, to get over the foreground grasses and brush. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.<\/p>\n

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