With the recent hatching of two Cuban crocodiles, the National Zoo just got a little snappier! These feisty reptiles hatched July 6 and 14 and are among the most genetically valuable individuals in the Cuban crocodile population under human care. Until now, their mother’s genes were not represented in that population. Their mother, Dorothy, is wild-born and is estimated to be 55 years old (while Dorothy is not an official Zoo name, this is a name the Zoo uses for training). She hadn’t laid eggs in many years, which made this year’s event a very pleasant surprise for the keepers at the Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center.