Survival Skills: Alligators Thrive in Frozen Waters

The recent cold weather in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, allowed alligators at The Swamp Park Outdoor Adventure Center to showcase their survival skill by being suspended in frozen ponds with only their snouts above the ice, a phenomenon known as brumation. The cold-blooded animals can't regulate their own temperature, so they enter this state to survive freezing temperatures, sticking their noses up out of the water to breathe while the water freezes around them. The alligators returned to normal as temperatures rose, demonstrating their remarkable ability to adapt to extreme weather conditions.