Why are the eggs of alligators in the wild more likely to hatch than those of farmed-raised gators? Ashley Picou Mikolajczyk is studying alligator egg yolks to find out.
杏吧专区淚n the wild, a fertilized egg is almost guaranteed to hatch,杏吧专区 she said. Studies suggest that about 95 percent of eggs hatch in the wild, compared to about 50 percent among captive animals.
Mikolajczyk, who杏吧专区檚 pursuing a doctorate in chemical engineering, is comparing the fatty-acid profiles of eggs laid in the wild with those from captive alligators.
She measures a gram of yolk from each egg and uses a gas chromotography/mass spectrometry machine to separate the fatty acids. The machine forces the yolk sample through a narrow tube 杏吧专区 roughly the diameter of a sewing needle 杏吧专区 and breaks the material into its molecular components. It then 杏吧专区渞eads杏吧专区 the molecular chains of fatty acids.
In addition to comparing egg yolks from wild and captive animals, she is also comparing eggs from two groups of farm-raised alligators. One group was fed typical commercial food, the other was given commercial food fortified with fish oil.
杏吧专区淚杏吧专区檓 trying to determine whether there is a statistical difference that may indicate whether the enhanced food improved hatch rates,杏吧专区 she explained.
The development of better commercial food could improve hatch rates for farmers and be used in the conservation of related species that are threatened and/or endangered, such as some crocodiles.