Watch a Fearless Woman Swim Directly Under a Massive Alligator

Swimming with alligators doesn’t make it to everybody’s bucket list but for some, it’s worth shelling out cash for the experience. The woman in the video below shared an intimate encounter with an alligator and made it look incredibly graceful. It’s certainly not an activity for everyone but she made it look good!

Watch the Unbelievable Video Below!

Can Alligators See What Swims Around Them?

Contrary to popular belief, alligators have excellent sight adapted to low-light environments. Their eyes sit on either side of their heads, which gives them a great range. Not only can they see the movements of the prey they seek, but they can also sense the movements of their prey. Just beneath an alligator’s photoreceptor cells, there is a cluster of cells that form a layer (tapetum lucidum) and serve to maximize how much light an alligator can detect (which is why they can see well underwater where light is scant).

How Acute is an Alligator’s Sense of Touch?

Although you might think that an alligator’s rough exterior means it’s not very sensitive to touch, alligators have one of the most well-developed senses of touch of all animals. Despite the armor that protects an alligator, each of the little domes throughout its body holds the sensors that alert the alligator of touch, especially around their faces (including their jaws). Your own fingertips are quite sensitive but surprisingly, an alligator’s touch sensors are even more sensitive than yours!

Woman Swims Under (and Touches!) Alligator

When the clip below starts, Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” is playing in the background. The music puts you in a state of wonder as you register what you’re watching on the screen. It’s an underwater scene — there’s low light and the water is green and clear. You get a view of an alligator from inside the water. Its eyes are above the water and its legs are relaxed at its sides. It seems to be busy munching on something on top of the water.

A woman is swimming beneath it and when she reaches it, she turns around to look up at it. She’s wearing goggles and takes her time, lingering beneath the alligator, appreciating it but not touching it. She stays in that position for a few more moments then swims upward, mere inches from the gator, and flips around, her belly facing downward. She rises up until her head touches the gator’s belly and then she uses both hands to reach up and touch it. Watch until the end — it’s a beautifully captured once-in-a-lifetime moment!