Exactly two years after a Cheetos-colored alligator from the Charleston area made headlines all over the world, a Bluffton man spotted two of the reptiles sunbathing next to a neighborhood pond Sunday.

Chad Godwin spotted the two carrot-colored alligators, which are approximately 4- to 5-feet long, in a pond. 
 
Commenters on social media, of course, have many theories for what’s giving the gator sweet potato skin.

Some say the gators are supporting President Donald J. Trump. Some say the alligators are fans of the National Championship-winning Clemson Tigers. Some even have worried that the alligators are a sign of pollution.

But according to experts at the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, “It’s likely due to alligators hibernating somewhere near rust, like by an old drainage pipe.  It’s like if you stuck your hand in a bucket of rusty water where metal had been sitting for a while.”

Experts have not seen an “uptick” in rusty reptiles over the past couple years, and it’s “unlikely” the coloration is a sign of pollution in the water.

It’s not really a coincidence that the orange gators are being spotted around this time of year.

“February is typically when we start seeing alligators come out of hibernation for the first time. They’re not fully out of hibernation yet, but once they get away from the source of rust, the coloring will go back to normal.”

South Carolina isn’t the only state seeing the mysterious gators. A burnt orange alligator was spotted last week at a golf course in Dublin, Ga.