In a rarely seen occurrence, video released on Monday (January 8) showed alligators trying to stay alive in a frozen North Carolina pond by sticking their snouts through the ice.
Footage taken by an NBC affiliate station showed a handful of the cold-blooded reptiles at the Shallotte River Swamp Park in Ocean Isle Beach breathing through the gaps created with their snouts in a pond frozen by a brutal cold spell ravaging the U.S.
The reptiles cannot generate their own body heat. Experts say once the alligators are able to breathe through the ice, they fall into a state of hibernation known as brumation by lowering their body temperatures and metabolism. Once it becomes warm and the ice melts, the creatures will thermoregulate their body temperatures to their regular state.
Bone-chilling arctic air has created dangerous conditions for a large portion of the U.S. and has resulted in at least 18 deaths since the beginning of the new year, including four in North Carolina traffic accidents and three in Texas.
