subject: Plush Alligator Stuffed Animals & Interesting Facts [print this page] One can only shake their head in disbelief when a child makes a request for an alligator stuffed animal. After all, it doesn't bring to mind the notion of a soft toy that will comfort the child in times of need. Then again, only a child really knows what their plush toys mean to them and if that means an alligator stuffed animal is the one they will form a close and passionate attachment to, so be it.
Some interesting facts about alligators arrived after a ten year study that was conducted on alligator mating habits by scientists from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, brought surprising results; the animals showed they had the same loyalty to their mates as birds do with theirs.
The mating system of alligators living in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge (RWR), were the ones under the decade long study which proved that 70 percent of re-trapped females were faithful to one mate. Stacey Lance, of the scientific teams leaders said I don't think any of us expected that the same pair of alligators that bred together in 1997 would still be breeding together in 2005 and may still be producing nests together to this day.
The mating system of the alligator is a complex one, but these new findings give new insight into how it functions. While care from the parents is typically lacking in many reptile species, crocodilians, on the other hand, show that through nurturing their young and fierce protecting of the nest, they in fact do display parental care.
The findings in the study at RWR show that female alligators moved quite freely through territories dominated by males but many of the females went on to choose the same male to mate with over a period of many mating seasons. This is the first bit of evidence to show partial male fidelity in any species of crocodilian and as a result reveals that the mating patterns between alligators and birds are quite similar. Archosaurs are a group of ancient reptiles in which crocodilians are the only survivors and, it also gave rise to birds. The similarities of this evolutionary relationship with birds means that crocodilian species are in a position to be able to provide information about ancestral mating systems of both birds and dinosaurs. Per Stacey Lance, in this study, by combining molecular techniques with field studies we were able to figure something out about a species that we never would have known otherwise.
The beauty of the alligator stuffed animal is that it will get along with every other stuffed animal that may be in a child's collection. The child may decide, however, that having their alligator stuffed animal too close to the teddy bears and plush rabbits, is far too 'dangerous' and as a result, may opt for it to spend 'time' with other plush toys that are more like they are instead.
