Florida gets a lot of guff from the rest of the US for the behavior of its inhabitants, human and reptile alike. We bring you coverage of the latest horror-inducing incident from The Sunshine State: a monster alligator strolling casually across a golf course.
The giant lumbering beast takes its time traversing the manicured green lawn before slipping into a small lake. The sight is the stuff of nightmares. But it also kind of makes you want to play the theme music from Jurassic Park and wipe a tear from your eye, right?
Image Credit: Jurassic Park/Steven Speilberg
The lizard sighting went down at the Valencia Golf and Country Club in Naples, Florida, where previously, the largest creatures seen walking the green were some overweight Republican politicians playing a few holes. Kidding! Tyler Stolting, a golf professional at the club, managed to catch it on camera, and he shared it with news sources.
The gator shocked the masses when it went viral this week, but some were skeptical. A few people didn’t want to believe that enormous, dangerous, cold-blooded monsters exist and walk amongst us in broad daylight. You know, except for all those serial killers in the true crime podcasts they binge. The story even made it onto Snopes, where it was verified.
I really thought the video with the alligator was fake so I just skipped it over but now I’m seeing different news sources say it’s real and I just wanna know wth is going on in Florida
— 🌞 💋 (@Meekav_) November 12, 2020
I think the giant gator video going around might be fake but it does bring fond memories of the Florida gator park I went to that had one huge alligator appropriately named Goliath. 🐊
— Karolyn Gray (@Thirdsphere) November 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/Horus1618/status/1327185969267654656
Despite its exorbitant size, the alligator doesn’t represent anything abnormal.
David Sheen, of the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, said on Twitter that “there’s nothing unusual about this alligator or the video.” In fact, alligators in Florida regularly grow over ten feet long. According to The State Library and Archives of Florida, the largest alligator ever recorded there was a whopping 17 feet in length. *Shudder*
Alligators are no stranger to golf courses either. In 2016, a truly gigantic gator ambled over the Buffalo Creek Golf Club. That one looked to be about 15 feet, though no one was stupid enough to take a measuring tape to it.
So, if you plan on taking a trip to Florida, be aware that you may come face-to-face with 1000 pounds of gator. Bring your running shoes! They say the key is to zig-zag…
