Giant gator gets golfers gobsmacked

Most of us know that the American alligator is a pretty impressive creature. That muscular, scaly body. Those rows of jagged teeth. And its jaws! American alligators have one of the Top 5 strongest bites in the animal kingdom, measured at around 2,100 PSI (pounds per square inch). Don't bother reaching for your calculator, just trust us. That's one really strong bite.

The range of the American Alligator. (Wikimedia Commons)

For most of us though, these mighty beasts aren't something that we need to be too worried about. For one, they live in a very specific part of North America, confined to states in the southeastern United States like Florida and Louisiana. But even if you live in these areas, the gator is a pretty shy creature. It doesn't want to be bugged and, unless you're tasty, it doesn't want to bug you.

But that said, every once in a while, a gator's gotta go for a walk, you know? And if that walk takes him, I don't know, say, across a golf course in the middle of the day, you better just make sure to give him some space.

"That is the biggest alligator I have ever seen in my life!"

That's the situation that Florida man Charles Helms found himself in last week when he was out for a round of golf with friends. He caught the animal casually striding across the grass and posted it on YouTube, and the footage has been passed around ever since. Even though a gator walking on a Florida golf course isn't that unusual, this was significant due to the sheer size of the beast. He's been estimated to be 4.6 metres (15 feet) long, which would put him on the very high end of big gators. Helms himself said it was the biggest alligator he had ever seen.

So sit down somewhere safe and watch this incredible creature do what he does best: strut!