VIDEO: Orange-Colored Alligator Sighting In South Carolina Becomes Internet Viral Sensation
By SEEKER // February 12, 2017
ABOVE VIDEO: An orange-colored alligator has been spotted in the retention ponds at Tanner Plantation in Hanahan, South Carolina.
(SEEKER) – An orange-colored alligator, which admirers on social media have nicknamed “Trumpagator,” surfaced this week from the retention ponds at Tanner Plantation in Hanahan, South Carolina.
Animals experts confirm that alligators are not born with such a distinctive Cheetos hue, but they suspect that one of three possible reasons could help to explain the four-to five-foot-long alligator’s unique coloration.
Peter Critchlow, park manager at Alligator Sanctuary in Michigan, told Seeker, “For three to four months out of every year, alligators go into a hibernation-like state called brumation. During this time they tend to do a lot of digging into mud, covering themselves and being more dormant.”
“The orange color,” he continued, “could be due to iron oxide from clay or mud. Another way to put it is that the alligator might have gotten into rusty mud.”
He said that alligators are also attracted to culverts, which are drains or channels that direct the movement of water. Like cats feeling comfortable while curling up into a box, alligators seem to gravitate toward tight enclosures like drainage pipes.
“In undeveloped areas, alligators will naturally go into caves, so culverts must seem like a nice, safe cave to them,” Critchlow explained.
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