Photo: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images
Chances are you’ve been freezing lately if you’re in the East Coast as it’s been brutal here these last couple of days. But humans aren’t the only ones dealing with the rough cold as animals everywhere have been dealing with it, too. One of those animals? Alligators. But fortunately for them they have quite the tactic to survive the frozen waters.
A video from the Shallotte River Swamp Park in North Carolina has gone viral has it shows how a cold-blooded alligator survives when a pond freezes over. The video shows one alligator completely frozen in place with their snout poking out of the ice so they can breathe, thus allowing them to keep their bodies under water and not have to get out into the cold surface.
Check out the bizarre video below:
Here’s how this pretty amazing phenomenon is described by Shallotte River Swamp Park on Facebook
The cold-blooded reptiles cannot generate their own body heat, but they can regulate it by changing their environment in a system called brumation. The creatures lower their body temperature and metabolism so they can survive. Alligators essentially allow themselves to be frozen in place with their noses just above the surface.
Experts say that alligators almost instinctively know when the pond is about to freeze over. They’ll stick their nose above the surface at just the right moment and allow the water to freeze around it. In extreme cases, they get frozen into the surface of the pond for several days and then swim free when the ice melts. When it gets warm again and the ice melts, the alligators will start thermoregulating their body temperatures.
Pretty awesome stuff.
h/t Bro Bible
