In the bitter cold of Gator Country in Beaumont, Texas, local wildlife rescuers discovered an alligator frozen in a pond.
People’s daily life came to a near standstill during the recent cold wave, and animals were also seen acclimating to the extremely low temperatures.
An alligator in icy water was shown in a viral TikTok video, but it wasn’t dead.
According to a CBS News story, the footage was shot at a nearby rescue facility in Gator Country Beaumont, where maximum temperatures last week barely reached the 40s.
“We all know what alligators do during the summer and spring … but what do they do in the winter and how do they survive?”
In the video, Gary Saurage, the proprietor of Gator Country, speaks before pointing to an alligator in icy water.
It was not dead; its nostrils were fully visible, and the tip of its snout protruded slightly above the cold surface.
The lizard is shown to be fully submerged in the icy water in the footage.
Saurage stated, “That animal is hibernating to the fullest extent right there, and his heart is beating three times per minute.” People, that’s incredible. Alligators live in the ice in this manner.”
According to the South Carolina Aquarium, the rescue center representative in the video was discussing a phase called brumation, in which a reptile can enter a low metabolic state and almost cease to move other than to wake up and drink.
Texas wildlife officials reported that alligators typically brumate in their dens, but occasionally they wind up in the water. They enter in this form between mid-October and early March.
The gators will use their snouts to build a hole so “that they can stick their nostrils out to breathe” when the water ices over, according to a 2021 statement made by Oklahoma Ranger District Wildlife Biologist Robert Bastarache.
“As long as they can keep their nostrils above water level, they should survive,” he stated.
