A video of an alligator discovered in Texas almost wholly submerged in frozen water has overtaken much of the nation.
Much of the United States plunged into subfreezing conditions last week, with temperatures dropping into the teens accompanied by freezing rain and snowfall. The Dallas-Fort Worth area, in particular, experienced subfreezing temperatures for 89 consecutive hours, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Gator Country, a rescue center located in Beaumont, Texas, posted a video on TikTok of a frozen pond on January 18 with an alligator that can be seen just beneath the surface of the frozen water. The video shows the reptile wholly submerged, except for its nose, which juts out of ice.
“We all know what alligators do during the summer and spring … but what do they do in the winter, and how do they survive?” asked Gary Saurage, owner of Gator Country, in the video.
“That animal is in full hibernation right there,” said Saurage of the alligator shown in the video. “His heart is beating three beats per minute. Folks, that’s amazing. That’s how alligators survive in the ice.”
The United States Forest Service recorded that alligators have adapted this method of survival to deal with freezes. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation found 17 alligators surviving icing events in this manner in 2021 rather than in brumation dens.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) records that this is the time of year when these alligators, known as American alligators, brumate, a variation of hibernation that applies to reptiles.
“Alligators in Texas are mostly inactive from mid-October until early March, when they brumate. Alligators emerge from brumation in March,” said TPWD on its website. “March 1 through May 30 is the peak time for breeding and nesting.”
