A near-death confrontation with an alligator was caught on video. A swimmer barely escaped with his life after an attack by a lightning-fast alligator.
We take you to Brazil where a man took a swim in a lake in a popular tourist area. The man was swimming in Lago do Amor in the city of Campo Grande at around 4:40 p.m. on October 23 when he was attacked by an alligator.
The viral video recorded by Willyan Caetano shows the man furiously swimming as fast as he could. Suddenly out of nowhere, an alligator is seen closing in on the swimmer in a hurry. The apex predator shoots through the water like a torpedo and is swimming so fast that it leaves a wake like a speedboat. The animal snaps at the man, which causes him to fight for his life.
Thankfully, the man was barely able to escape and reached the shore. He was bit by the gator, and the man investigates his arm for an injury.
Local reports said the swimmer suffered from a minor injury from the bite.
“Suddenly, to my surprise, an alligator starts chasing him,” Caetano said.
“He tried to swim fast to get away, but the alligator managed to reach him and land a violent bite on the man’s arm, who came out of the water with his arm all bloody and very scared, saying he didn’t know there was an alligator,” he added.
Garapeira Marinalva da Silva – who runs a sugarcane juice stand overlooking the lake – said this is the first time in five years she has seen anyone go into the water.
“Sometimes, children go there, but then we tell them that there is an alligator and that it’s dirty and they come back,” he told Campo Grande News.
While alligators appear lethargic, the beasts can be incredibly fast swimmers because of their large and powerful tails. Alligators can reach a top speed of 20 mph swimming in the water – that’s faster than a bottlenose dolphin that tops out at 17 mph. On land, alligators can reach speeds of up to 35 mph.