NEWPORT, Ky. — The Newport Aquarium is usually crawling with all kinds of cute and intriguing creatures, but now guests will have the opportunity to see two dozen baby alligators on Gator Alley.
To celebrate, the aquarium is offering buy-one-get-one-free tickets through Nov. 3, for people to come and watch the hatchlings explore their new habitat.
"Seeing a group of baby gators in the wild is exciting, but can be rare," said Kelly Sowers, Newport Aquarium general curator in a press release. "They have a lot of natural predators, so they are excellently camouflaged. It's so special that guests get to see the babies up close and watch them grow up at Newport Aquarium."
The babies are only about one month old, and are currently only six inches long, according to a press release. However, baby alligators grow about a foot each year during their first few years, and the aquarium said they can grow to be as big, or bigger, than the aquarium's rare white alligators already living in the exhibit.
The alligators will spend their time in a smaller, baby poll on the bayou exhibit's beach and dock area, before being introduced into the larger habitat once they're older.
"What's especially cute is to see the baby gators perched up on the rocks in the baby pool when they're being fed by a member of the Animal Care Team," said Sowers.
