OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (WSVN) — A North Carolina animal park showed the unusual way alligators survived freezing temperatures while underwater.
The Shallotte River Swamp Park shared a video showing 18 alligators who poked their head up through the ice to brave the freezing temperatures.
This is not the first time such a phenomenon has taken place. Just last year, the gators survived by doing the same thing.
In a 2018 interview with Inside Edition, Park Manager George Howard said the gators instinctively know when the water is about to freeze, so they stick their noses out above the water in order to breathe and wait for the ice to thaw..
When the water or air temperature falls too low for them to be active, Howard says alligators go into a hibernation-type state called brumation, where they lower their body temperatures and metabolisms in order to survive the cold.
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