As many of the residents across Baldwin County saw snow for the first time last week, animals also had first interactions with the cold, fluffy element.

Animals at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo enjoyed the snowy weather, some from the comfort of their warm enclosures, the zoo's executive director, Joel Hamilton, said. He said the zoo regularly adapts practices and care routines as the weather changes in the area.

"Doing what we do, we watch weather all the time. I mean every single day," Hamilton said. "As soon as we saw cold weather coming in, we prepared for that. … This obviously ended up being unprecedented and unlike anything any of us have ever seen."

Hamilton said once the temperature dropped into the "mid-20s and teens," most animals had to stay inside their indoor enclosures, though some animals that are suited for colder weather were given free reign between indoor and outdoor enclosures to enjoy the snow as needed.

Overall, different animals responded differently, Hamilton said. The zoo's gray wolf, Jake, "didn't mind the cold at all." Other animals enjoyed playing in the snow as it fell on Tuesday, Jan. 21, like the Eurasian lynx, the camels and the lions, "even though they're not a northern climate animal." The cheetahs, brought out after the snow had fallen so their keepers could clean the indoor enclosure, also seemed to have fun in the snow.

"Our animals are zoo animals. They're not wild animals," Hamilton said. "This is not what they're accustomed to here. Like the lions, they'll never see snow in the wild typically."

The zoo had overnight staff doing "periodic checks on the animals" to make sure they were using their provided heat sources "the way we hoped." Heat sources were slowly introduced so the animals weren't shocked by the temperature changes.

"We prepare every winter for the cold temperatures," Hamilton said. "Lucky for us, down here it's normally short lived."

Some wind blocks, similar to what the zoo uses in a hurricane, were put in place to protect areas in outdoor enclosures. Because the zoo is "set up for hurricane response," there was plenty of food and resources prepared for the animals. However, there was concern that the limited generators would not be able to keep the heat sources going. Luckily, there was no damage to the zoo's power during the winter storm.

Hamilton said public operations at the zoo were halted as there was "ice on the sidewalks" and on wooden bridges, causing a hazard to public safety. Operations resumed Jan. 25, just in time for the annual Seed and Plant Swap event.

Outside of the zoo in wild waters, Mackenzie Russell and Dr. Ruth Carmichael with the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network said no cold-stressed strandings were reported during the "historically rare" cold weather seen last week, a different outcome than has been reported in Texas and Florida.

However, "all living resources" feel the effects of "extreme and sustained cold."

"Of the animals we study, manatees are most susceptible to seasonal cold temperatures," they said. "Manatees suffer from cold stress and can die due to sustained exposure to temperatures below 68 degrees Fahrenheit."

Human response to cold-stressed manatees typically comes from the Manatee Sighting Network (MSN) reports before "trained responders" are sent to the area to "assess the manatee."

"We establish the condition of the animal, accessibility of the animal's location and inform our stranding partner organizations of the manatee's status," Russell and Carmichael said. "If the animal is in poor health and in an accessible location, the MSN team will work with partners to rescue, transport and, if necessary, rehabilitate that animal."

According to Russell and Carmichael, manatees regularly seek out "thermal refugia along their migration route" where they can stay warm during particularly cold weather. A scientific article published by the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network team, including Carmichael, focused on thermal microrefugia including "steam plant and wastewater treatment plant outfalls along with natural springs."

The article states how some of these microrefugia were constructed in the 1940s and 1970s, which "allowed for stepping-stone movements to previously unused sites at more northern latitudes. Correspondingly, sightings of manatees in northern Florida and states west and north of Florida also increased, and manatees are now documented as regular seasonal visitors to these areas."

Manatee sightings in northern Gulf waters during mid-November to mid-March can be reported at 1-866-493-5803. "Press 1 to speak to an on-call responder." For stranded whales and dolphins, reports can be made to 1-877-942-5343 (1-877-WHALE-HELP).

According to the team, dolphins could potentially see negative impacts, especially if they are "compromised in other ways" such as having "limited food or low salinity exposure." No whale or dolphin strandings have been reported in Alabama since the winter storm.

Russell and Carmichael said "it is too soon to tell" how Alabama marine animals were "broadly affected" especially as most of the strandings that have been reported this year occurred before the storm. However, they said cases of cold-stunned iguanas were reported in Florida after the storm. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said manatees, sea turtles and nonnative green iguanas could all be affected by low temperatures.

In Gulf Shores' Little Lagoon, a fish kill occurred after the temperature dropped and sustained below freezing, with thousands of mullet washing up on the lagoon's shores and canals.

Scott Bannon, director of Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' (ADCNR) Marine Resources Division, said below-freezing temperatures led to the mass death in the lagoon's mullet population.

"Mullet is a very common species in Alabama with a high reproductive rate," Bannon said. "As long as we do not have multiple events in one year, the population is likely to absorb the impacts."

Bannon said the "short-term impact is the smell and decaying carcasses" along Little Lagoon's shoreline. Their removal will mostly come from scavengers as "nature will run its course." Long term impacts will be "more difficult to determine" before a rough estimate of population impacts has been made.

Mullet are not necessarily susceptible to freezing water or even "a specific temperature," Bannon said, as fish often seek deeper waters with more stable temperatures during a cold snap.

"They can withstand freezing air temperatures for short periods of time, but those fish that remained in shallow areas were exposed to colder temperatures for longer periods of time," Bannon said. "We had several nights of below freezing temperatures."

Bannon said schooling fish like mullet typically "swim in circles near the surface" when enduring cold-stress conditions. Outside of mullet, the only other animal victims reported in the fish kill included one snook from Little Lagoon, which is not surprising as "that species does not tolerate cold very well."

"The animals respond to their environment, and in this case the environmental conditions were just more extreme than normal," Bannon said.

Sea turtles can also suffer from cold-stress, though there are no apparent reports of it happening in Baldwin County. Alligators will stick their noses out of cold water to retain oxygen, even if the water freezes around them.