Claire Reid
Social media users have been shocked to discover the unusual way alligators survive in frozen water.
Twitter user Tansu Yegen shared a clip showing the alligator with just its snout sticking out of the frozen lake - you can see how odd that looks for yourself here:
Posting the clip, Yegen wrote: “Alligators survive in frozen swamps by sticking their noses through the ice to breathe. Reptiles shut down their metabolism, and they don't need to eat, their heart rate slows down, their digestive system slows down, and they just sit and wait for the heat.”
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Fellow Twitter users were slightly baffled by the unusual technique, with one person writing: “If I could just peace out for winter I probably would too lmao. Very interesting behaviour, had no idea they did this??”
Another said: “Nature has its own surprises and systems.”
And someone else joked: “Ah yes let me shut down my metabolism and survive freezing temperatures.”
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The technique is called ‘icing’ and it's how alligators breathe when their bodies are almost completely submerged in freezing temperatures.
David Arbour, who works at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, shared some snaps of alligators ‘icing’ and explained: “The gators won’t freeze if the water stays liquid. Their snouts are just cartilage so freezing doesn’t hurt their snouts. They can still move and are aware of things.”
George Howard, park manager at The Swamp Park in southern North Carolina, told LiveScience that its ‘kind of like hibernation except they are fully aware’.
As alligators are cold-blooded they are at the mercy of the elements to regulate their body temperatures.
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Alligators are able to sense upcoming cold snaps by noticing differences in water temperature, according to AccuWeather.
Although not the only reptilian water dwellers in nature, the act of ‘icing’ or ‘snorkelling’ is pretty unique to alligators.
Speaking to LiveScience in 2018, James Perran Ross, a retired associate scientist of wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Florida, said: "It’s an interesting behaviour because it’s opposite of what most crocodilians do.
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"The normal response of most other crocs when it gets really cold is to come out of the water and try to bask to get warm again."
Ross explained that as the air is usually colder than the water if alligators did leave the water they could freeze to death - so the technique is vital to their survival.