A mother alligator guards her egg-filled nest for about 65 days until high-pitched noises come from the eggs letting her know her babies are beginning to emerge. At that point, the mother opens the nest and carries the hatchlings to the water in her mouth. She will protect her babies for as long as a year.

Hunting and habitat destruction decimated the American alligator population, such that by the mid-20th century the species was almost extinct. Federal and state protections were put in place, and over a 20-year period populations largely recovered.