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N.C. Swamp Gators freeze in place, noses high
The Charlotte Observer reports [charlotteobserver.com] on freakish behavior being exhibited by alligators in one swamp [shallotteriverswamppark.com] in eastern North Carolina.
Alligators in one eastern North Carolina swamp have proven it was no fluke last winter, when they survived a cold snap by freezing themselves in place with their noses above the ice. [shallotteriverswamppark.com]
It happened again Monday at The Swamp Park, only this time more -- and bigger -- alligators joined in
The video posted by nosey park manager George Howard shows several of the alligators frozen in place here [charlotteobserver.com]
A few alligators exhibited this behavior last year, surviving a freeze for several days without ill effect. This year more joined in, including one gator 11 feet in length.
Howard says the alligators seem to sense when the water is at the freezing point and they respond by poking their nose above the surface “at just the right moment.”
Once frozen, they enter “a state of brumation, like hibernating,” until the water thaws
No word on how many ice hockey rinks across the swamp is. According to theSprucepets Brumation [thesprucepets.com] is a dormant state in reptiles similar, but not identical to hibernation in mammals.
During hibernation, a mammal is sleeping and does not have to eat or drink. But brumation is not a true sleep and the reptile still needs to drink water. A brumating reptile may have days where it will awake, show some activity, drink water, and then go back to its dormant state. Hibernating mammals, on the other hand, are in a deep sleep where they don't need to eat or drink.
I believe I mastered brumation around my sophomore year.
