Video captures mama digging out hatchlings, moving them to water
On the heels of the largest, most successful and nationally publicized alligator hunting season in Mississippi, biologist Ricky Flynt isn’t resting on the accomplishment.
Flynt, who heads the alligator program for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, has achieved another of his goals — a video of a female alligator completing the hatching process at a nest Flynt located at Barnett Reservoir. (Click here to see video)
The amazing footage follows the diligent mother as she digs out the hatchlings, picks them up in her massive jaws and carries them to the water.
One video includes an audio track where Flynt places his cell phone on the nest to record the sounds of baby gators, still in their eggs hidden deep in the earthen nest, signaling to their mama the need for excavation.
This was a groundbreaking accomplishment for the biologist, too. It might be the most significant video of a hatch ever recorded.
“I have discussed the results of the video with alligator biologists in Louisiana and Florida,” Flynt said. “After having discussed those results, it is believed that the video that we have obtained may be the most comprehensive video of a wild alligator nest during the hatching process.
Flynt said he will soon write a scientific findings paper that he hopes will be published, and then turn his attention toward next year.
“We are making plans to obtain funds and approval to conduct even more monitoring on multiple nest sites next year with even more sophisticated equipment and monitoring capabilities,” Flynt said. “Technology is available to use cameras that can operate via cell tower reception to ‘live-stream’ video and can also be equipped with solar panels to charge the power source and may even be manipulated from a remote location.”
Flynt began his video effort in 2012. He was unsuccessful.
“My first attempt was last year, using some infrared game trail cameras on two different nests,” he said. “While I did get some video of activity at the nests, the camera did not get any photos or video after the initial hatching started. I was very disappointed.”
But, the biologist was not dissuaded.
“I met Jim Tipton while assisting the Black Bear Program this past February,” he said. “Mr. Tipton runs a security camera surveillance business and was volunteering time and resources to help setup a surveillance camera on a radio-collared mother black bear with her two newborn cubs in a den site in Bolivar County. That day we discussed conducting a similar project, but on an alligator nest. He gladly offered his time and expertise to help make it happen.”
Tipton upgraded Flynt’s arsenal — a standard infrared, motion detecting, programmable camera connected to a mini-DVR device with a 12-volt power source and power inverter.
Adding Tipton’s expertise to that of Flynt’s, from a biological standpoint, provided results. Flynt began looking for the perfect nest to video and that meant more trips to his favorite research site.
“Each year I go out to search for alligator nests along the Pearl River north of Barnett Reservoir, with a goal to find at least 10 established nests,” Flynt said. “I keep some notes about the dates that nest are established each year, how many hatch successfully, how many are predated upon, and hatch dates. This year nest initiation was about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks later than the last six years since I started keeping some records (began with access to an airboat).
“I located and monitored 12 nests this summer. The nest that we set the camera upon was the 10th nest that I found. The conditions around the nest and direction of sunlight compared to the aim of the camera were special considerations.”
Flynt said another important factor in the selection was access to and from the nest to allow easy monitoring. Some nest sites are extremely hard to navigate to and from, due to dense vegetation and underwater stumps or stumps hidden by aquatic vegetation, he said.
The homework and the new gear worked, providing a unique glimpse into the biology of one of the world’s most fascinating creatures that motivated Flynt so strongly.
“Primarily, it was a professional curiosity into what the hatching process looks like,” Flynt said. “I wanted to obtain photographs or video of the adult female as she excavates the nest. I wanted to have a first hand account of the duration of the process of hatching. Scientific literature refers to the hatching process and behavior but much of the knowledge is based upon captive or farm raised alligators.
“This has turned from a project of professional interest to a project of a professional desire to obtain possibly new information that has never been documented about one of the most interesting and long-lived species in the world.”
Segments of the video have been posted on the MDWFP website on a newly created Mississippi Alligator Videos page.
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