Recently, a swimmer in Brazil found out that you should probably heed any signs warning of gators in the water.
Typically, this lesson is pretty basic, but for whatever reason, this man decided that a quick dip in the lake is worth risking his life. According to The Sun, the man was visiting Lago de Amor in Campo Grande, a fairly popular destination, when he ran into the alligator. Apparently, the person who captured the incident, Willyan Caetano, stated the lake has plenty of signage that warns visitors of the predators that tend to live near the lake.
Caetano spotted the man wandering into the waters when he decided to pull out his phone. That’s when the tourist found out just how dangerous the seemingly tranquil waters were.
“As the swimmer was within 30 yards of the shore, he saw the alligator moving rapidly across the water towards him,” the video caption on YouTube read. “He tried to swim back to shore as quickly as possible before the gator attacked him and bit his arm.”
With an alligator closing in behind you, it’s no wonder this man was trying desperately to escape the jaws moving at an unbelievable speed. Both in the water and on land, alligators can reach up to 20 miles per hour… whereas the average human swims roughly six miles per hour.
This swimmer came back to shore with a bloody arm, but he’s lucky to be alive.
Take a look.
Why Did the Gator Seek out the Swimmer?
You would think that after booking it to the swimmer, the gator would go full predator-mode and take the swimmer underwater. But instead, the reptile delivers one bite before backing off and letting the man swim the rest of the way to shore.
The reason is pretty simple: the gator is likely a mama protecting her younglings or nest.
According to the University of Georgia, “Some female alligators protect their young and may become aggressive if provoked… She may be watching you and decide to take action to protect her baby. Mother alligators will sometime react by hissing, lunging, or swimming toward you but are just signaling you to go away.”
During nesting season, mother gators can be especially territorial and tend to prefer a bit more distance while caring for their young. Luckily, for this swimmer, the reptile only gave a warning chomp before laying off.
Even if gators aren’t visible in the water, that doesn’t mean they aren’t close by. They tend to nestle themselves between long grasses along the edge of a water source, venturing out when there’s a threat or viable prey.
Hopefully, for this swimmer, he’ll think twice in the future before ignoring any warning signs around a tourist attraction.