Just how cold did Texas get during recent winter blast? Alligators froze in solid ice

In steamy Texas summers, alligators glide through swamps and lakes, occasionally frightening suburban Dallas dwellers.

What about the winter? They freeze, quite literally.

A TikTok video captured footage of several alligators at Gator Country in Beaumont completely submerged in frozen water except for their snouts, which are perched above the ice to breathe. The alligators take about one breath every minute when frozen, Gary Saurage, co-owner of the gator rescue, explained in the video. They slow their heart rate to three beats a minute.

“We know how to deal with floods. We know how to deal with hurricanes,” he said. “But folks, this is what’s really tough on alligators.”

For the record, Beaumont, some 80 miles east of Houston, did not just get chilly. The temperature plunged to 11 degrees Wednesday morning, the coldest the city has been in nearly 120 years, according to the National Weather Service. The front also brought a solid blanket of snow. While undoubtedly not the gators’ ideal conditions, they know just what to do, Saurage said in another video, pointing out a baby gator frozen underwater.

To survive the biting winters, alligators and other reptiles go into a state called brumation, similar to hibernation, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. They typically begin to brumate in mid-October and emerge in early March, moving around on warmer days.

Alligators have been around millions of years and have learned to adapt to extreme temperatures, Saurage said.

“They are genius animals,” he said.

Gators aren’t unusual in Texas. Up to half a million live in the state, concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of Texas.

Beaumont’s Gator Country is home to some 450 alligators, crocodiles and other reptiles, according to its website. About 90% of the animals have been rescued or surrendered.