A mother alligator protects her young

[KSC-00PP-0313]

  • Photo Number: KSC-00PP-0313

  • Release Date: 08-Mar-2000

    • Description: In the water near Kennedy Space Center, a mother alligator gathers her six offspring. American alligators feed and rest in the water, and lay their eggs in dens they dig into the banks. The young alligators spend their first several weeks in these dens. The Center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses 92,000 acres that are a habitat for more than 331 species of birds, 31 mammals, 117 fishes, and 65 amphibians and reptiles. The marshes and open water of the refuge provide wintering areas for 23 species of migratory waterfowl, as well as a year-round home for great blue herons, great egrets, wood storks, cormorants, brown pelicans and other species of marsh and shore birds, as well as a variety of insects.

    Resolution Format Width
    (Pixels)    		 Height
    (Pixels)    		 Size
    (Bytes)
    Thumbnail GIF 100 66 10072
    Slide GIF 172 148 36670
    Low GIF 320 212 96669
    Medium JPEG 1024 680 306347
    High JPEG 2670 1773 1364345

    Point of Contact

    Name: NASA Kennedy Space Center

    Address:

    KSC Public Affairs Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899

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    Photos By: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Scanned By: Seven/Still Photo Imaging
    Captions: InDyne, Inc.
    Curator: NASA/KSC Internet Systems Lab (Dumoulin, Downs, Paladino)
    Last Updated: Friday October 24 12:07:07 EDT 2003 (Anita Barrett)

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