Thomas Hollowell, Age 8, Of Schweinfurt,, Germany, for his question:

Does an alligator lay many eggs?

Mrs. Alligator lays her snow white eggs in a huge nest. This nest is a huge pile of grasses and damp foliages. It may be three feet high and more than six feet wide. When all is ready, she lays her clutch of eggs deep inside this heap of warm,, rotting vegetation. As a rule, she lays about 50 eggs.

Most of the snakes, lizards and other reptiles desert their eggs and leave them to hatch in the warm ground. But mrs. Alligator is a better mother than most of her reptile relatives. She stands guard ovor then nest and keeps enemies away fram her precious eggs. She stays nearby until the eggs hatch and her 50 or so youngsters leave the nest.