A driver recorded a video of a creature waddling across Highway 23
A woman from Louisiana had an interesting story to share after she saw a special tailless alligator on May 19.
Ashlyn Bartholomew shared a now-famous photo on Facebook of an alligator without a tail crossing Highway 23 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. By May 28, her post had gotten thousands of likes and comments.
In a video of the reptile that Bartholomew posted, the slow-moving alligator waddles awkwardly as it crosses the highway without its tail.
“At first, I wasn’t sure if it was an alligator, a huge dog, or something else,” Bartholomew shared with Nola.com. “It was the first time I had ever seen an alligator that didn’t have a tail.”
Bartholomew spotted the alligator just relaxing in the road, “just doing its own thing,” after he had dropped his sons off at baseball practice.
In response, she took a video of the reptile and shared pictures of it on Facebook with the caption, “Y’all be careful. There’s half an alligator walking on the road.”
And while we can’t be sure what made the gator lose its tail, reptile expert Robert Mendyk from the Audubon Zoo has some ideas.
Mendyk told Nola.com that the alligator might have lost its tail because of a collision with a boat propeller or, more likely, a fight with another gator.
Mendyk also mentioned that alligators often survive losing parts of their bodies. “The wound seals up and heals,” he explained. “They have amazing healing and regrowth abilities.”
He pointed out that if the alligator was attacked, it was probably by a male alligator strong enough to bite off a tail.