If alligators lay an average of 40 eggs a mating season, how come we don’t have an alligator epidemic? Rabbits only have 12 offspring by comparison!!

Question

Seriously. Some gators can lay NINETY EGGS! How is this not a problem? How does nature handle this? Why aren’t we up to our knees in big scaly bellowing carnivores?

In: 12

Answer 1

Baby alligators have a lot of predators. Birds of prey. Snakes. Big fish. *Alligators*

Of those 90 eggs big mama lays, 89 won’t reach adulthood.

This is typical for most animals that crank out dozens of spawn – it’s an adaptation to low survival rates.