When people emerge from the cold dark of winter with an unnatural orange color, a bad spray tan is usually to blame. But in the case of orange alligators, the reason’s a little different.
Photographer Dan Krieger is no stranger to gators. With a host of ponds and small lakes connected by culverts that serve as storm drain reservoirs, his Little River neighborhood is a welcoming habitat for the large reptiles.
But when he spotted a 9-foot alligator the color of a pumpkin from his back porch, Krieger knew he had to grab his camera.
“Sure enough, it was one of these orange gators, and it was a very sunny day, so he’s just lying out there sunning himself,” Krieger said. “I grabbed my camera and, fortunately, I didn’t have to get that close. I have a telephoto lens, and took a picture of Gary the gator.”
The Little River alligator Krieger affectionately dubbed “Gary” isn’t the only South Carolina animal seen donning an unusually bright coat this time of year. The strange coloring is a result of environmental factors, and can be completely natural.
During the winter, alligators hunker down in a period of relative inactivity called brumation. Their metabolic rates slow and, while they continue drinking to stay hydrated the reptiles cut out meals, according to the South Carolina Aquarium.
Brumating alligators settle into mud holes to stay warm on cold days, which can give them a distinctive orange color.
“Usually, an orange alligator is due to a mud that has clay in it, or sometimes it could be rust,” South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Alligator project leader Morgan Hart said. “But we’ve even seen them in pretty pristine wilderness where there wouldn’t necessarily be rust in the mud, so it can just be oxidized natural metals in the mud.”
According to Hart, orange gator sightings are common in cooler months not because the mud dyes or stains the reptiles during brumation, but because the reptiles emerge from the mud to sun themselves on warmer days.
As the sun dries the mud it brings out the vibrant orange, so folks are more likely to spot the gators. When February rolls around, South Carolina weather favors sightings. Krieger spotted an orange gator around this time last year and other sightings made February headlines in years past.
“They’ve been on the bottom, they’re covered in mud, they come up and they sit in the sun and it just dries on them like a thin coat,” she said. “And then it looks like their natural color is almost like a dark orange.”
Because the orange coloring is essentially nature’s body paint, Hart says it washes off like any other mud. In some cases, the mud will stick around longer in the alligator’s scutes or back scales, creating a grid-like pattern until the animal gets in the water for a prolonged period.
But why don’t other animals in the same ponds take on the same rust-colored crust as alligators? Well, some do.
Turtles have occasionally been spotted with similar coloring. With tough skin and shells, turtles sometimes dry with an orangey coating, just like gators.
“A beaver might be in the same water, or an otter, but they’re going to shake it off, and it’s not going to dry in that hard crust that you would get on the back of a turtle or an alligator,” Hart said.
Orange or otherwise, alligators are an important part of South Carolina’s ecosystem. But that doesn’t mean they’re friendly.
For those who spy one of the oddly-colored gators, it’s best to enjoy the sight from afar. Don’t try to feed alligators and remember to maintain a safe distance for humans and pets.
“Watch them and appreciate them,” she said. “It’s kind of a unique thing to see, and [people] get a little bit lucky if they get to see them.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
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Maria Elena Scott writes about trending topics and what you need to know in the Grand Strand. She studied journalism at the University of Houston and covered Cleveland news before coming to the Palmetto State.