You Haven't Lived Until You've Seen This Alligator Clumsily Try to Climb Over a Fence
See You Later
A particularly headstrong alligator had a hell of a time climbing a fence, as seen in a video making its rounds on Reddit.
"As scary as they can be, alligators just don’t look as threatening when climbing a fence," reads the video's title posted to the AnimalsBeingDerps subreddit.
The footage is just as delightful as you might expect, with the poor alligator's hind legs struggling to find purchase and helplessly rowing in midair. The creature's tumble after it successfully shifted the weight over the roughly three-foot fence isn't exactly dignified, either, garnering a pitiful "yay" and stifled laughter from the person filming.
"Imagine surviving millions of years to be thwarted by a metal fence," one redditor mused.
"Windmill legs, face plant and everything!" another user wrote.
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1784485171531845684
In a While
While the effect is goofy, alligators are surprisingly good climbers. There have been several videos circulating online of them climbing fences in Florida with ease.
In August, a massive specimen climbed a tall concrete wall in Punta Gorda, Florida.
"Alligators climb over vegetation in the wild to get to their destinations," Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Lauren Claerbout told Newsweek at the time. "Any time an alligator is seen trying to climb up or over a man-made structure, it's attempting to navigate its surroundings."
Alligators are extremely common in Florida. According to recent estimates, there are around 1.3 million in the state.
And that means sightings are almost an everyday occurrence. Thanks to our encroaching on their natural habitat, they often need to climb obstacles to get from point A to point B.
In 2020, NASA officials even had to chase a six-foot alligator away from a rocket launchpad at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Fortunately, attacks are extremely rare. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there were an average of just eight unprovoked alligator bites in the state per year over the past ten years.
"If an alligator would like to be somewhere, they are usually crafty enough to make it happen," one Reddit user offered. "Luckily they haven’t figured out door handles yet."
More on alligators: NASA Had to Chase an Alligator Off the SpaceX Launchpad
