[Music]
hi unless you're a sick party real you
wouldn't expect to stumble across any
dinosaurs in your daily life however
depending on where you live that might
not be precisely true on the surface
modern alligators might not seem as
impressive as the Giants they once
walked them up but that doesn't mean
these guys aren't any less dangerous in
Florida alone seven to ten people fall
prey to alligator attacks every year
about six percent of these attacks prove
fatal that begs the question of what to
do
if a gator starts to think you look
tasty hey do you remember Wally Gator
the cartoon show in the 60s I just
popped into my head he wore a collar in
a pork pie hat lived at the zoo and was
always trying to escape I don't think he
attacked anyone probably so not to scare
the kids or the advertisers anyway
if you encounter a gator Wally or not on
dry land the first step is to run
probably don't need a reminder on that
one standard piece of advice is to run
zigzags to keep the Beast from reaching
full speed but some experts say that
isn't necessary
alligators are surprisingly fast capable
of breaking 25 miles per hour in a
sprint but don't have very much in the
way of endurance even if it looks like
one is gaining on you they'll usually
get tired and give up quickly that's
assuming it even bothers to chase you
down in the first place
alligators are ambush predators that
prefer surprise attacks from underwater
to lengthy Overland chases their most
dangerous in the water and they're much
more effective at drowning their prey
than taking them down with tooth and
claw prey fleeing over the land will be
hard for them to catch and difficult to
overcome
so most don't even bother anything an
alligator doesn't catch in the first
lunge is probably a lost cause at that
point most Gators will slink off back to
their hiding spot and wait for something
else to come along
really they're a good deal lazier than
they are intimidating but what if one
manages to catch you by surprise let's
say you're fishing on the edge of a lake
and don't realize that drifting log is
600 pounds of scales and teeth an
American alligator can slam its jaws
shut with almost 3000 pounds of force
triple that of a lion or tiger the best
way to deal with an alligator is to run
but that isn't an option once one has
clamped itself to your leg at this point
your only option is to fight back with
all your strength attacks like this are
very rare but those who fall prey to
them can be seriously injured or even
lose their life your one advantage is
that you want to live more than the
Gator wants to eat you the more you
struggle and the harder you resist the
less appetizing you become become enough
of a hassle and the alligator will
decide you aren't worth the effort you
might be tempted to try pulling open the
Gators mouth but experts agree that's
exactly the wrong thing to do you might
have seen pictures or videos of people
holding an alligator's mouth closed with
their bare hands let's do mainly to a
quirk in Gator anatomy where they have
fewer muscles dedicated to opening their
mouths and closing it well I'm sure we
all know at least one person we wish had
that exact problem
it isn't very helpful against an
alligator gnawing on your shin
fortunately nature's boss fight isn't
impossible since alligators come with a
few weak spots you can hit for massive
damage the biggest one is the Gators
snout nobody likes getting kicked in the
nose and alligators are no exception
another option is try jamming something
up its nose a stick will usually do as
well pretty much anything narrow enough
to fit through the animals nostril well
it's not a guarantee forcible nose
picking isn't exactly what most
alligators consider a good time speaking
of water which is I guess what we're
going to do now if you happen to be in
some when you pry that nostril open the
gate
we'll have to choose between letting you
go and potentially drowning for a
creature that's only somewhat interested
in eating you to begin with it's not a
difficult choice if you can't get at the
Gators nose poking it in the eye is a
solid choice for Plan B decades of
research have determined that being
poked in the eye isn't pleasant this
applies to alligators as well while
Gators have a set of transparent
secondary eyelids the eyes are still
more vulnerable than almost any other
part of their armored body a third
option is to attack what's known as the
palatal valve this is a fleshy organ at
the back of their tongue the purpose of
this flap is to keep water from getting
in the alligators lungs you can see why
forcing it open might be detrimental to
the Gators health even if you can't
manage that a series of repeated kicks
might be enough to open the Gators jaws
now nobody wants their foot in an
alligator's mouth but getting it out is
all about playing the cards you've been
dealt all things considered there are
worse places to be than within striking
distance of the back of its throat
regardless of which angle of attack you
choose to employ you need to be prepared
to counter the alligators signature
weapon rolling once an alligator gets
ahold of you it will start to roll and
you must roll with it if you don't some
nasty things are going to happen to
whatever body part is in their mouths
the kind of things that usually happen
to a rotisserie chicken when the animal
starts to roll your only option is to
roll in the same direction if that
proves difficult you can try holding on
to the alligators body or snout hugging
a hungry dinosaur might not sound like a
good idea but it gives you a good chance
of walking away with a correct number of
extremities
rolling is exhausting so the alligator
will need to rest for a few seconds
after the maneuver it's not much but
during that brief window you'll have the
upper hand counter-attack with the same
strategies I already told you about and
you have a pretty good chance of getting
free
after that it's time to rhyme winning
against an alligator means staying alive
if round one was a draw there's no
benefit to sticking around for part two
see you later alligator
you know I've been waiting six minutes
to say that once you've gotten away
you'll want to find medical attention
ASAP that three thousand pounds of force
I mentioned isn't doing any favor to
your bones and muscles and let's not
forget those pointy yellow teeth in
addition to some pretty severe wounds
and fractures many who fall prey to a
gator suffer bacterial infections thanks
to all the nastiness living in the
animals mouth treating these infections
is a lengthy and often unpleasant
process but it sure is better than the
alternative fortunately for both species
alligator attacks are very rare as long
as you give them enough space most will
prefer to live and let live of the eight
crocodile like species known to attack
humans alligators are among the least
aggressive Oh eight you might be saying
if you're a glass half empty kind of
person doesn't that mean there are seven
other animals that are worse on that
front I have some good news and some bad
news
most crocodilians as they're called have
the same weaknesses and use very similar
tactics specific behaviors will vary
from species to species
but the strategies I describe should be
effective against all of them whether
it's a croc or a caiman the rules remain
basically the same the bad news is that
crocodiles can grow much bigger than
their American cousins and are
drastically more aggressive while
alligators and caiman seldom target
humans for food many species of
crocodile very much do responsible for
more than 1000 fatalities every year
crocodiles are the tenth deadliest
animals to humans if you exclude other
people or anything that slays with venom
or by spreading disease crocodiles jump
straight to number one as Elton John
might say crocodiles rock so always
remember wherever you see a big scaly
remnant of the dinosaurs key
pure distance some species only want to
be left alone and if you want a lot more
than that we might be the top of the
food chain now but we weren't always
when you think about it we haven't been
the top predator for all that long and
it seems not everyone's gotten the memo
hey what about you have you ever been
too close to a gator can you think of
any reptile survival techniques that I
missed let me know down there in the
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