How To Survive An Alligator Attack

– For years, Hollywood movieshave shown humans at war with alligators. And their crocodilian cousins. Either they’re attacking
us, or we’re attacking them. – You’re luggage. – Gimme the ball alligator. – Alligators
don’t often attack humans. But it does happen,
and if one attacks you,what should you do?And perhaps more importantly,
what shouldn’t you do?American alligators have been aroundfor over 150 million years,
since the age of the dinosaurs. But alligators stuck around. There are nearly five million alligatorsin the United States. They live throughout the southeast,from Texas to North Carolina. But most of them are
concentrated here, in Florida. In fact, the sunshine state is hometo around 1. 3 million
alligators, And that’s wherethe majority of alligator
attacks take place. The first fatal alligator attack recordedin the United States occurred
in 1973 near Sarasota. Since then, 23 more
deaths have been reported. – You’re more likely to
be attacked by a dog,or even killed by a cow
than have an encounter,a negative one, with an alligator. – Give it up for Corbin Maxey everybody!- Corbin Maxey is a biologist,wildlife expert, and
owner of two alligators. – Alligators, they can be dangerous,but just like with wildlife,
if you leave them alone,they will more than likely
wanna leave you alone. – Sure,
alligators can be vicious,technically they’re apex predators,albeit very patient ones. – They’re ambush predators,usually all you’ll see, if
you’re really even lucky to see,’cause they’re so good at camouflage,are the little eyes above the water. They would be eating
mammals like raccoons,waterbirds, turtles, and deer on occasion. And they literally will sneak upto their prey and then whack!The prey won’t even know
usually what gets it,but they are incredibly fast. – Alligators
are usually pretty chill,as long as you respect their space. – There are rare instances of course,where females might be guarding a nest,and if you’re in Florida,
or you’re in an areawhere alligators are
found, and you come acrossa nest with a female,
she is going to be angry,and she will come after you. – If an
alligator charges after you,the first step you should take, is to run. Alligators are quick,
and can run up to a speedof 11 miles per hour, but they
can’t sustain that very long. But what if it’s too late?And that gator sinks it’s teeth into you?Fight back!- You wanna fight back,
you wanna give it your all,because that will more than likelyallow the alligator to release
you, they’re gonna realize,oh gosh, I don’t wanna deal with this. – Don’t try
to pry open the jaws. You’re dealing with a bite
force of three thousand pounds. Some experts say that while fighting back,you should smack the
gator’s sensitive snout,and also try to gouge the gator’s eyes. – I feel like that’s
easier said than done. When you have something
sudden happen to you,it’s gonna be very hard to be like,oh wait, where are the eyes, you know?So I think the best thing to dowould be to fight back, put up a fight,definitely don’t play dead. If you play dead, you might become dead. – So, in review, if you’reattacked by an alligator, run away. If it’s too late, fight back,don’t try to pry open it’s jaws. Attack the sensitive
snout, and gouge the eyes,and definitely do not play dead. But perhaps most important,
stay out of their territory. – When alligators do
attack humans or bite them,it’s mainly by mistake, and then usuallythey’ll let go, ’cause they’ll realize,ah, this isn’t a deer,
this isn’t a raccoon,this is foreign object,
this is not somethingthat I would want to eat. – Lucky us. – Rolling. . . and go. –