While photographing wading birds in Big Cypress National Preserve, I got down low on my stomach at the edge of the water to get a better angle for my next shot. That is when the sky opened and rain poured down. Just as I was wiping the rain out of my face and off my camera, an alligator rose up from the dark bottom of the water to take in a breath before sinking down again.

Alligators can hold their breath for 10 to 20 minutes at a time and if resting or in the right condition, they can even stay submerged for hours. When they need to breathe, they will slowly surface exposing their nostrils above the water to take in air before sinking down again.

Always use caution when viewing and photographing wildlife. It is your responsibility to do your research to learn and understand animal behaviors and habits. The better we respect the wild the better we protect it. Disrupting animal behavior can lead to the animal not eating or even abandoning nests.