A viral video of alligators frozen in an icy pond at North Carolina’s Shallotte River Swamp Park has been the talk of social media, with many people wondering whether coldblooded crocodilians can survive in brutally cold temperatures.
George Howard, the park’s general manager, told HuffPost that while the frozen alligators in the video appear to be casualties of Old Man Winter, they’re very much alive and well. Alligators, he explained, don’t like subfreezing temperatures any more than warmblooded humans, and when faced with such extremes they go into survival mode.
“They can sense temperature changes and will stick their noses out of the water to breathe,” Howard said. “It just so happened southeastern North Carolina recently had a freeze like none other, so the ice literally froze right around their snouts.”
With their bodies on ice, alligators go into a state of dormancy called torpor in which their metabolism slows considerably. But unlike mammals that hibernate, gators don’t go into a deep sleep.
“In that state, they are still alive, still moving, but very lethargic,” Howard said, describing torpor.
If the alligators didn’t keep their snouts above the water surface, they’d perish in about 24 hours ― the maximum amount of time they can stay underwater without coming up for air.
Despite this ingenious survival instinct, Howard said gators can’t stay in icy water indefinitely.
“Obviously, that is not optimal, being frozen like that,” he said. “I can’t imagine it being very good for them if it was much over a week in cold water. That’s why you don’t see indigenous alligators north of North Carolina. Their bodies like the warmth.”
But fear not, animal lovers. The alligators at Shallotte River Swamp Park are out of danger. Temperatures at the park have warmed up lately, freeing the gators from the icy pond.
“It’s 65 degrees here today and the waters have melted,” Howard said Tuesday. “They’re out and doing their happy dance.”
American Alligator pictured at Everglades National Park, Florida. These spectacularly close up alligator pictures were taken by a wildlife photographer brave enough to jump in a lake swarming with the wild reptiles. Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida even literally played snap with one of the beasts- which he nicknamed, Fluffy- by mimicking the way alligators square up to each other in the wild. While totally submerged in a lake in the wild marshland of the Florida everglades Jim raised his arm above the water like an alligator would raise its jaws to provoke Fluffy into opening his mouth for the 'killer shot.' Luckily for Jim the 200 pound snapper did not choose to clamp her razor sharp teeth on his arm. Jim was also able to get heart stopping pictures of the amphibious hunters looming from the deep. Alligators are at their most unpredictable and dangerous while underwater.
American Alligator pictured at Everglades National Park, Florida. These spectacularly close up alligator pictures were taken by a wildlife photographer brave enough to jump in a lake swarming with the wild reptiles. Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida even literally played snap with one of the beasts- which he nicknamed, Fluffy- by mimicking the way alligators square up to each other in the wild. While totally submerged in a lake in the wild marshland of the Florida everglades Jim raised his arm above the water like an alligator would raise its jaws to provoke Fluffy into opening his mouth for the 'killer shot.' Luckily for Jim the 200 pound snapper did not choose to clamp her razor sharp teeth on his arm. Jim was also able to get heart stopping pictures of the amphibious hunters looming from the deep. Alligators are at their most unpredictable and dangerous while underwater.
American Alligator pictured at Everglades National Park, Florida. These spectacularly close up alligator pictures were taken by a wildlife photographer brave enough to jump in a lake swarming with the wild reptiles. Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida even literally played snap with one of the beasts- which he nicknamed, Fluffy- by mimicking the way alligators square up to each other in the wild. While totally submerged in a lake in the wild marshland of the Florida everglades Jim raised his arm above the water like an alligator would raise its jaws to provoke Fluffy into opening his mouth for the 'killer shot.' Luckily for Jim the 200 pound snapper did not choose to clamp her razor sharp teeth on his arm. Jim was also able to get heart stopping pictures of the amphibious hunters looming from the deep. Alligators are at their most unpredictable and dangerous while underwater.
American Alligator pictured at Everglades National Park, Florida. These spectacularly close up alligator pictures were taken by a wildlife photographer brave enough to jump in a lake swarming with the wild reptiles. Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida even literally played snap with one of the beasts- which he nicknamed, Fluffy- by mimicking the way alligators square up to each other in the wild. While totally submerged in a lake in the wild marshland of the Florida everglades Jim raised his arm above the water like an alligator would raise its jaws to provoke Fluffy into opening his mouth for the 'killer shot.' Luckily for Jim the 200 pound snapper did not choose to clamp her razor sharp teeth on his arm. Jim was also able to get heart stopping pictures of the amphibious hunters looming from the deep. Alligators are at their most unpredictable and dangerous while underwater.
American Alligator pictured at Everglades National Park, Florida. These spectacularly close up alligator pictures were taken by a wildlife photographer brave enough to jump in a lake swarming with the wild reptiles. Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida even literally played snap with one of the beasts- which he nicknamed, Fluffy- by mimicking the way alligators square up to each other in the wild. While totally submerged in a lake in the wild marshland of the Florida everglades Jim raised his arm above the water like an alligator would raise its jaws to provoke Fluffy into opening his mouth for the 'killer shot.' Luckily for Jim the 200 pound snapper did not choose to clamp her razor sharp teeth on his arm. Jim was also able to get heart stopping pictures of the amphibious hunters looming from the deep. Alligators are at their most unpredictable and dangerous while underwater.
American Alligator pictured at Everglades National Park, Florida. These spectacularly close up alligator pictures were taken by a wildlife photographer brave enough to jump in a lake swarming with the wild reptiles. Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida even literally played snap with one of the beasts- which he nicknamed, Fluffy- by mimicking the way alligators square up to each other in the wild. While totally submerged in a lake in the wild marshland of the Florida everglades Jim raised his arm above the water like an alligator would raise its jaws to provoke Fluffy into opening his mouth for the 'killer shot.' Luckily for Jim the 200 pound snapper did not choose to clamp her razor sharp teeth on his arm. Jim was also able to get heart stopping pictures of the amphibious hunters looming from the deep. Alligators are at their most unpredictable and dangerous while underwater.
American Alligator pictured at Everglades National Park, Florida. These spectacularly close up alligator pictures were taken by a wildlife photographer brave enough to jump in a lake swarming with the wild reptiles. Jim Abernethy, 52, from Florida even literally played snap with one of the beasts- which he nicknamed, Fluffy- by mimicking the way alligators square up to each other in the wild. While totally submerged in a lake in the wild marshland of the Florida everglades Jim raised his arm above the water like an alligator would raise its jaws to provoke Fluffy into opening his mouth for the 'killer shot.' Luckily for Jim the 200 pound snapper did not choose to clamp her razor sharp teeth on his arm. Jim was also able to get heart stopping pictures of the amphibious hunters looming from the deep. Alligators are at their most unpredictable and dangerous while underwater.
Close up picture of an American Alligator in Everglades, Florida. The pictures were taken so close that at one point the eight-foot 200 pound male American alligator was nudging the photographer's camera aggressively with his nose. It opens its powerful jaws showing rows of fearsome teeth, which are capable of ripping a human's arm clean off. Photographer, Todd Winner, 52, from Vilano Beach, Florida was driving close to the marshy state everglades with his friend, Adam Lintz, 35, from Michigan when they spotted the huge alligator in a marsh by the roadside.
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