Daring creature steals egg from protective mother alligator’s nest, Texas video shows

A well-placed trail camera recently captured a daring creature pushing its luck to the very edge by stealing an egg from the nest of a protective mother alligator, Texas wildlife officials said.

The mother alligator can be seen perched watchfully on her nest, hidden by tall grass and foliage, the nighttime video shared Aug. 6 by the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge shows.

But the nest wasn’t hidden enough to escape the notice of a sneaky raccoon with a hunger for eggs, video shows. The gator went on the defensive but — despite being well above raccoons on the food chain — couldn’t keep the nocturnal bandit at bay, the refuge said.

The raccoon watched and waited, and when the alligator left the nest, it swooped in for the prize, plucking a generously sized egg from its home and darting off into the dark.

“This mother … did her best to keep this raccoon away, but the raccoon’s persistence won in the end,” refuge officials said.

On one night, the mother gator sticks her snout into the nest as if detecting the lingering scent of an intruder, or simply noticing the nest is a little less full than before.

If it’s any consolation, the alligator may have many more eggs remaining, as they lay between 20 and 30 eggs per season, officials said.

“But very few offspring, if any, will survive to adulthood,” they said.

For anyone worried about encountering an upset reptile mom while going for a hike, the refuge put minds at ease, saying “these nests are far from any public areas or trails.”

Founded in 1964, the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge encompasses more than 3,600 acres of land, and includes 20 miles of hiking trails, “making the park one of the largest city-owned nature centers in the United States,” according to the refuge’s website.

This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Daring creature steals egg from protective mother alligator’s nest, Texas video shows."