Ecology on the Making Nest and Laying Eggs of Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis) under Artificial Feeding Conditions
人工饲养条件下扬子鳄的营巢和产卵行为

Nest-making and egg-laying behaviors of the Chinese alligator (Alligator sin ensis) under captive-breeding conditions were studied during a 3-year period field work from 2003 to 2005 using the infrared video camera. And for the first time, a behavior of digging a hole for the hind legs before the eggs were laid was observed. The eggs were not covered all at once, but were covered as the egg s were laid towards the late part of the egg-laying period. To understand the c onnection between climate and nest-making time, an analysis was conducted based on the theory of linear regression, which showed that the mean temperature of A pril had the strongest effect upon nest-making time: the higher the mean temper ature of April, the earlier the nest-making time started. Principal Components Analysis was also conducted to ascertain the effect of surrounding environment f actors upon the choice of nesting sites, which indicated that the level of veget ation canopy and the distance to the water sources were among the principal comp onents.