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Laying the Next Generation
Well this picture certainly isn't going to be winning any awards (it was taken at night), but I thought you'd like to see the start of new life here at Crocodylus Park in the Northern Territory of Australia. This is an adult female crocodile, about 3 metres in length, laying eggs into her nest. Saltwater crocodiles (C. porosus) construct a mound nest out of suitable vegetation such as broad-leaf grasses, bits of twigs and mud. Here, our captive female is using straw placed into her enclosure. She scratches up a nest over three nights (females salties quite often take a bit of time over the nest) and finally digs a deep chamber into the top of the nest using her hind feet. She then positions herself over the chamber and starts the laying process. During this time, she becomes very placid, although still aware of what's going on around her. Each egg is laid every 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and the whole process can take around 4
5 minutes to an hour depending on the number of eggs. Females tend to lay 40 to 60 eggs in the wild on average. This one laid 35 - a fairly small clutch. Then she spends up to an hour slowly packing the nesting material over the eggs - using just her hind legs to move the straw and press it down. In captivity, the eggs are collected the next day and incubated under controlled conditions. They take around 2.5 months to hatch.
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