A mother alligator caught everyone’s attention as she laid her eggs in front of a crowd of onlookers at a Florida attraction. The 13-foot-long crocodile did not dig a nest, which was unusual, but scattered its eggs on the grass.

Gatorama staff at the 15-acre park in Palmdale were surprised to see the 13-foot alligator named Ulele drop dozens of eggs on the grass without bothering to build one. nest, which is quite rare for American crocodiles.

According to park co-owner Patty Register, approximately 20 to 30 people gathered to witness the extraordinary sight, and a total of 41 eggs were counted, 38 of which were deemed ready to hatch.

The unusual incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 13, at the park, about 130 miles northwest of Miami.

“Some guests came up to the staff and said, ‘We think this (gator) is laying eggs.’ And sure enough, when the staff got there, she was still doing it,” Rest said in a phone interview.

“I guess 20 to 30 people were watching something extremely rare. We counted 41 eggs, but three were crushed. Thirty-eight were beautiful and we were incubating them.”

Now, the big question on everyone’s mind is why Youlele chose this unconventional approach.

Ulele has been bred at Gatorama since 1968 and has given birth to multiple litters. Therefore, her failure to dig a nest was not due to lack of experience. Sometimes a crocodile will lay eggs if it senses something is wrong with it.

Conservation efforts in Florida have helped increase the U.S. alligator population from a few hundred adults to about 2,000. Most are found in the southern tip of Florida.

Gattorama is the largest American crocodile breeding colony in the country, with approximately 200 alligators, some of which are over 16 feet long. It’s also a destination for “nuisance” crocodiles that have to be removed because they live too close to humans.