What does Brumation mean? Story behind frozen alligator's survival skills in North Carolina explained

Recent photos and videos of ‘frozen alligator’ at The Swamp Park in North Carolina’s Ocean Isle Beach have everyone wondering about the animal’s survival technique. Posted on Sunday, January 21, the videos show the entire body of the gators under frozen water with only their snouts sticking out.

While some might mistake it for hibernation, the park subsequently explained how this habit was not unusual for the reptile and that it is called ‘brumation’. During winter, reptiles go into a state similar to hibernation in mammals. When in brumation, the reptiles don’t experience long periods of inactivity. They occasionally stir their body to drink water, but go without food for months.

Brumation is this state of inactivity that is prompted by low temperatures. A reptile’s winter dormancy or brumation ends during the first sunny days, once the maximum temperature is reached.

The Swamp Park is home to several rescued gators who currently reside in an undisturbed sanctuary pond. As the temperature gets cold, especially at night, the biologically cold-blooded gators, get no choice but to keep their body in the water. The park wrote in the caption of one of the posts:

"The key to life is adaptation, who better to show this than the American Alligator!! Alligator in ice 2024."

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The Swamp Park officials explain the frozen alligator's survival skills

Referring to the frozen gators, a park employee said the gators keep their eyelids closed to protect themselves from the ice. In less than a day, when the weather starts to warm up, they start thawing out of their frozen state. The employee continued in the interview with Live Science:

“The water they are in does tend to freeze on consecutive sub-freezing nights. This does not happen often. They do this as a survival technique — a coping mechanism to allow them to breathe in the event the water freezes over.”

He added:

“This time of year, they are in a process called 'brumation,' kind of like hibernation except they are fully aware. They lower their metabolism to survive the cold. They don't eat for a few months, until the temps get up to 70 [degrees Fahrenheit] and above.”

This isn’t the first time The Swamp Park has experienced frozen gators. Similar occurrences of brumation were reported back in 2018 and 2019.

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Brumating alligator in Texas

A recent TikTok video by Gator Country went viral where a rescued reptile in Beaumont, Texas was seen brumating in a pond. It would initially occur to viewers as though the animal is frozen and dead — however, the gator was alive and the user explained the details about its miraculous survival skills.

The video was recorded at the Gator Country Adventure Park on January 16. The park claims to be South Texas’s biggest alligator sanctuary. All the animals in the sanctuary are either rescued, donated, or taken in after being abandoned.

View on TikTok

Gary Saurage, the park owner made the video to make everyone aware of the reptile’s brumating habit. The entire body of the alligator could be seen frozen under the water. However, Gary pointed at how his snout was pushed up through toward the air to breathe oxygen. He noted that as long as the gator keeps its nostrils above the water, it will survive in the freezing cold.