The affected alligators are currently emerging from brumation - similar to hibernation in mammals - and over the past few months, these factors have led them to appear orange to onlookers.

He watched in awe as he saw an orange alligator emerge from the water. I know what you are thinking. What? There are orange alligators? The simple answer is yes, although it may not be what you think.

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 ...

Sometimes, the orange color comes from rusty pipes or metals the alligator is brumating near. Krieger said the soil in his neighborhood has a lot of clay, and it features dozens of ponds and ...

Wildlife photographer Dan Krieger captured a rare orange alligator in Little River, South Carolina. These alligators undergo brumation during the winter, which stains their scales an unusual ...

An orange-tinted alligator basking in the sun on Feb. 7, 2025 in Little River, South Carolina. (D A Krieger Photography) It turns out this was just a seasonal scale color change for the alligator ...

Sometimes, the orange color comes from rusty pipes or metals the alligator is brumating near. Once an alligator emerges from its sweet spot in the water, they look like a big Cheeto. Only this ...

"At first, I thought it was a different species of gator, like, jeez, not an albino gator but an orange gator," Krieger said. It turns out this was just a seasonal scale color change for the alligator ...