A viral video that has garnered more than 10 million views since it was posted on Facebook on Thursday shows what appears to be an American alligator pirating away with a young fisheman's catch.
The video apparently originated on YouTube, but its creator and location are uncredited. Interest on YouTube was minimal, but the video really took off when it landed on the Facebook page run by Bass Masters and Fish Experts.
The 28-second clip showed a boy called "Connor" reeling in a fish, accompanied by at least two men on a pier. The adults can also be heard saying "he's right here" and "the alligator's coming" before the gator snatched the fish and swam away.
The video appeared to have been staged to some extent, but of course the alligator was doing what comes naturally. Gators have been known to eat just about anything, from fish, frogs and birds to snakes, small mammals and people's pets, according to the University of Florida's Information Source website.
In addition to the 10 million views, it has nearly 250,000 shares and a tidal wave of comments. Many offered their theory on where the video could have been taken. "I'd say Florida, no doubt," one person wrote. "Looks like the reservoir near me in Plant City," wrote another.
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There's no way to know from the YouTube post where - or when - the video was taken. But according to experts, the American alligator can be found throughout the southeastern United States and across the Gulf of Mexico. A map on UF's EDIS site shows the alligator's range extending into Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.
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