VIDEO: Gargantuan alligator seen strolling at Florida nature center

KTRK logo
Monday, January 16, 2017
'Nature at its best:' Giant gator spotted at nature center
Video of a gator, that could easily be mistaken for a dinosaur, was shared on Facebook from a woman who was visiting a nature center in Lakeland.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- A bystander's video that has quickly gone viral shows a massive alligator going for a leisurely stroll at a nature center in Florida.

The jaw-dropping footage, which features a gator that at a glance might be mistaken for a dinosaur, was shared on Facebook by a woman who was visiting a nature center in Lakeland.

"I love Circle B. Nature at its best," Kim Joiner said in the caption of her social media post on Sunday.

The widely shared clip shows a group of four people at the Polk Nature Discovery Center watching as a behemoth of an alligator in front of them as it slowly walks across a path.

As of Monday morning, the 31-second video had been shared by more than 14,700 people, many of whom expressed disbelief at the size of the reptile.

"Oh I would not be that close!!" Tracey Waddell wrote in response to Joiner's Facebook post.

Another commenter, Ed Strayer, asked: "Did the earth shake with each step?"