By Laura Geggel, Senior
Writer | January 10, 2018 07:24am ET
A video showing alligator snouts
poking out though an ice-covered swamp in North Carolina during last week's
cold snap may look like the preview of an avant-garde art installation, but it
actually depicts an adaptive trick that helps these reptiles survive in winter
weather, a wildlife ecologist said.
Unlike mammals, alligators rely
on ambient temperature to keep their bodies warm, which is why they can often
be found basking in the sun or hanging out in air-pocketed burrows they've dug
into the banks of rivers and lakes.
But when it gets so cold that
their ponds freeze over, some alligators are known to swim to the surface and
poke their snouts above the icy water so they can breathe properly, James
Perran Ross, a retired associate scientist of wildlife ecology and conservation
at the University of Florida, told Live Science. [Alligator
Alley: Pictures of Monster Reptiles]
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