(bright upbeat music) - Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo located in beautiful Hot Springs, Arkansas.

My name is Brian Bridges, and I'm the Director of Marketing here for the Alligator Farm, and the farm's been in the Bridges family for many years.

We're excited for you to visit the farm today as it's one of the oldest family attractions in Arkansas, opening in 1902.

So join us as we visit all of the great things that you can do here at the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo.

(upbeat music) Here at the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo, the first area you visit will be our petting zoo area.

We'll provide feed for you to come and enjoy these animals and get up close and personal with many of them here in our petting zoo area.

And, boys and girls, here's a fun fact.

Did you know that pygmy goats are the most common breed of goat kept as pets?

How fun.

(upbeat music) Can you believe this little guy, the African tortoise, can grow up and be 70 to 100 pounds?

He's going to be a big guy one day.

(upbeat music) You never have to worry about our animals eating their vegetables here at the Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo.

We grow a lot of our own vegetables right here, and our rabbits love a fresh treat.

(upbeat music) One fun part of visiting the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo is that you'll get to hold a baby alligator.

These are our baby alligators, and they're American alligators.

And one cool thing about alligators is they're cold-blooded.

That means when it's cold outside their bodies slow down and they don't eat, and they bury themselves and hibernate in mud and leaves.

When it's warm outside, they come out, and they'll join in the swamps and the lakes, and they hunt for food, and they have all of their alligator babies.

(upbeat music) This is a replica of an alligator nest.

So a replica means it's just showing you what one might look like.

So when a mommy alligator lays her eggs, she makes a big nest.

And the nest is three-feet high and about seven-feet long, and that is where she's going to lay around 50 eggs.

And it takes about nine to 12 weeks for a baby alligator to hatch out of those eggs.

A budgie is also known as a parakeet.

And here's something really silly.

If a parakeet throws up on you, that means he's trying to make you a part of their family by feeding you.

(parakeets tweeting) We just saw our baby alligators, now it's time to check out our big guys.

These are the biggest alligators we have here at the alligator farm.

Alligators make three sounds.

They'll hiss like a tire, and that means, "Leave me alone!"

They'll grunt like a pig, and that's done during mating season.

And then sometimes you'll hear them bellowing like a bull, and that means there's probably going to be rain in the next 12 to 24 hours.

Now, I bet you didn't know that alligators could be your next weatherman or weather woman, did you?

We talked earlier about how alligators only eat when it's warm outside because they're cold-blooded.

Well, we are in the summer now here at the Alligator Farm, and these alligators like to eat.

But, boys and girls, it's different from how your parents tell you to eat.

They tell you to take small bites and chew your food.

Alligators do not follow those rules very well, boys and girls.

Alligators swallow their food whole.

Check it out.

(upbeat music) Not only do we have lots of alligators here at the alligator farm, we've also got alligator snapping turtles.

These turtles are old, they're over 100-years-old and over 150 pounds.

You'll have to come check out all that we have here at the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo.

From our monkeys, wolves, peafowl, and everything in-between, you're sure to have a great time when you come to Hot Springs and visit the Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo.

Thanks for stopping by on this field trip, and we'll see you soon.