It certainly was cold in Texas last week. "How cold was it?!" Cold enough to freeze your alligator in a pond!
We're not certain that's an actual phrase people use, but it is a true tale nonetheless!
At a rescue center in Beaumont, where temperatures didn't get much above the 40s last week, an alligator was found almost totally submerged in a frozen pond on the property, yet miraculously still alive!
Gary Saurage, owner of Gator Country Rescue, explained in a video posted online, "That animal is in full hibernation right there. His heart is beating three beats per minute. Folks, that's amazing. That's how alligators survive in the ice."
According to CBS News, alligators and other reptiles can enter into a state of "brumation," where they enter a low metabolic state where they engage in minimal activity, but still wake up to drink.
While gators usually brumate in dens, they sometimes find their way into the water. Oklahoma Ranger District Wildlife Biologist Robert Bastarach said that as long as alligators "keep their nostrils above water level, they should survive."
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