How do the creatures of the Neck survive winter?

[Canon Claude]

Given what we know of the Neck, they have animals that are basically crocodiles. Giant reptiles make that place their home, and we know that such creatures don’t exist in places that regularly produce ice and snow.

So either the Neck is at least a semi tropical region of Westeros which is an absurdly narrow strip of area (given that the Riverlands have snows during winter) or Westerosi reptiles can somehow survive cold winters that last years.

[Alyn Oakenfist]

They move towards lower parts of the human body, like the chest or the feet

[Rondo]

3 hours ago, Canon Claude said:

Given what we know of the Neck, they have animals that are basically crocodiles. Giant reptiles make that place their home, and we know that such creatures don’t exist in places that regularly produce ice and snow.

So either the Neck is at least a semi tropical region of Westeros which is an absurdly narrow strip of area (given that the Riverlands have snows during winter) or Westerosi reptiles can somehow survive cold winters that last years.

The temperature at the neck will be warmer during regular winters when compared to the north.  The long night will be different and those animals will perish.

[John Suburbs]

 

Alligators can enter a state of brumation if they have to. It's kind of like the reptile version of hibernation.

Alligators freeze snouts in ice to stay alive (cnn.com)

I doubt they can keep this up for years, however.

But there is the possibility that the waters of the neck are heated by underground thermal vents like in Winterfell. If this is the case, however, I would think people would remark that the entire Neck turns into a giant steam bath in the winter.

To my mind, though, the question is not so much how the lizard lions survive in the Neck, but how they could become the largest, most fearsome specimens in Westeros. It would be like giant crocs swimming around the swamps of New Jersey while the ones in Florida were just little bitty things.

[Loose Bolt]

One reason why the Neck is hot might be remnant of spell(s) greenseers used when they tried to cut the North loose from rest of the continent. Besides that could explain why local fauna is different than anywhere else. Or they tried to use more magic than they could handle and backslash of magic caused some consequences that they did not expect like weird climate and a lot of mutated animals.

[James Steller]

5 hours ago, John Suburbs said:

 

Alligators can enter a state of brumation if they have to. It's kind of like the reptile version of hibernation.

Alligators freeze snouts in ice to stay alive (cnn.com)

I doubt they can keep this up for years, however.

But there is the possibility that the waters of the neck are heated by underground thermal vents like in Winterfell. If this is the case, however, I would think people would remark that the entire Neck turns into a giant steam bath in the winter.

To my mind, though, the question is not so much how the lizard lions survive in the Neck, but how they could become the largest, most fearsome specimens in Westeros. It would be like giant crocs swimming around the swamps of New Jersey while the ones in Florida were just little bitty things.

The whole thing just smells of plot convenience without a satisfactory in-universe explanation.

[Megorova]

How frogs, lizards, turtles and water-snakes survive in climates where in winter temperature goes below -30C? -> They all hibernate. There's also aestivation and brumation, states similar in nature to hibernation (brumation is winter sleep, aestivation is summer sleep, when temperature is too hot for normal life). Crocodiles can hibernate for 4-5 months. Some snails can hibernate for 3 years. Bats can hibernate for close to a year. Lizard Lions are big creatures, so it seems likely that they have a lot of cellular fat, and thus they can hibernate for a long period of time. In fairytales dragons were able to sleep for hundreds of years without food. If Lizard Lions are magical beings similar to dragons, then they also can survive thru the long winters.

[Floki of the Ironborn]

You might as well ask how any animals could survive years of constant winter. There's almost no animals in real life who could manage to stay alive that long. If you can't accept the magical element of potential decade-long seasons, then you're never going to get into the series.

[Mad King Bolton]

They're creatures of their environment. Whatever rules Martin established to say that winters and summers last for years at a time would also allow for the flora and fauna to have adapted to this world and have some way to survive.