Several alligators have hatched from their nest at the University of North Florida.
In July, Action News Jax reported that the alligators are part of a study on climate change on the alligator population.
An alligator's gender is determined by the temperature of their nest, and an imbalance between the male and female population could lead to reproduction issues and even extinction.
Dr. Adam Rosenblatt, an assistant professor of biology at the University of North Florida, is conducting the UNF study.
Rosenblatt explained they have 400 alligator eggs in total -- 20 eggs in each nest. The nests are set up at different temperatures and are built in blue tubs that replicate nests in the wild.
"Each of these is our best effort to reproduce a real alligator nest from the wild. They’re about this wide and they’re about this tall and they’re built of dirt and grass just like we have here,” Rosenblatt said.
The eggs came from Louisiana because you need a special permit to collect eggs in the state of Florida.
Some of the alligators came out of their eggs on Saturday, and the animals will now be moved to the Jacksonville Zoo.
Cox Media Group
