May 29, 2026 • 10 mins
You could probably outsprint an alligator no matter what pattern you ran in -- but it's extremely unlikely that you'd ever need to. Learn how alligators do and don't attack in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/reptiles/alligator-zigzag.htm
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren
boglebam here. Much like the cheetah, the alligator is an
incredibly fast runner. You've probably seen one rise up on
its long, muscular legs and sprint the length of a
football field in pursuit a fleeing prey. No, you've never
(00:25):
seen that. What you've probably seen is more like this.
You're standing by a pond checking out some kind of
heron when you notice two small bumps protruding from the water.
After you take note of the nearby don't feed the
alligator's sign, you put two and two together. Those bumps
are the eyes of a gator lazily floating in the pond.
(00:49):
You might be frightened for a moment, but then you
remember the classic adage. You can escape an alligator if
you run in a zigzag, and this brings you comfort.
But should it. This saying, which is so old and
so widespread that it's virtually impossible to determine where or
why it started, implies first that an alligator is likely
(01:13):
to chase you across land, and second that alligators can
run faster than humans, at least when they're running in
a straight line. Neither of these are exactly true. Oh
what's true for sure is that you should avoid encouraging
an alligator to chase you under any circumstances. But they
don't really conduct chases on dry land because that's not
(01:35):
what they're built for, and if one did, you could
almost certainly outsprint it. Today, let's talk a little about
alligator's safety, including how alligators do and don't attack. The
American alligator is an apex predator and keystone species in
its native environment, which is the mostly freshwater systems of
(01:57):
the American South, ranging from eastern Texas up into Arkansas
and across the warm southeast up to the coastal Carolinas.
They are large, cold blooded reptiles, which means they do
a lot of work to work as little as possible
in order to conserve energy. They'll eat pretty much anything
they can get a hold of, and they actually create
(02:19):
environments for their food sources by digging or wallowing in
the mud or silt of a water bed, making pockets
that won't dry out during the dry season. But gator's
entire mode of cuisine is based on energy conservation. They
prefer to sneak up on their prey in the water,
they can float motionless and swim silently, their eyes set
(02:42):
on the top of their head like a periscope. They're
patient hunters and will wait in the water for hours
before lunging at an opportune snack. Once they attack, if
the prey does fight back, a gator will typically abandon it,
and they don't tend to attack anything that they can't
swim in a single gulp. Even large alligators choose prey
(03:04):
that's relatively small, which is good news for adult humans.
This has to do with an alligator's jaw and throat structure.
A gater kills by latching onto its prey with its
strong jaws and teeth designed to crush shells and bones.
It'll then perform the death roll, rolling over and over
(03:24):
in the water until its prey drowns or bleeds out.
The alligator then juggles the prey around in its mouth
so that it can toss it down its throat in
one bite. That massive jaw that allows it to hang
on to prey so securely also prevents it from chewing
and swallowing, and its teeth aren't particularly sharp. If a
(03:45):
gater does take down prey, too large to swallow a hole,
it'll store it until it rots enough to tear chunks
out of which, even for a gator, is not the
most delicious prospect. Small alligators make up the majority of
the population. An alligator that's less than five feet or
one and a half meters long will typically eat crawfish,
(04:08):
small snakes, and turtles. They don't even present a threat
to small dogs, let alone people. Large alligators are less common,
but they can be big enough to size us up
as a legitimate meal. A full grown gator can be
some eight to eleven feet long that's two and a
half to three and a half meters and weigh up
(04:28):
to one thousand pounds or four hundred and fifty kilos.
They are a threat, but they're still wary of us.
We're big and noisy, and they tend to avoid interactions
with people all together. When an alligator snaps its jaws
and bellows at people, it may look like it's rearing
for an attack, but this is really just defensive posturing.
(04:50):
It's hoping that you will leave it alone. An alligator
is most likely to attack humans when it's protecting its
territory or nest, or otherwise sees the person as a threat.
Early to Midsummer is mating season, and adult male gaters
become territorial. Later in the year, a female gater may
attack if she perceives a threat to her eggs or hatchlings. Generally,
(05:14):
just don't try to pet alligators or other wild animals.
They're not pets. But if you see an adorable young gaiter,
you must assume its mother is nearby and will not
take kindly to stranger danger. No matter how small an
alligator is, don't attempt to feed it. This only encourages
them to get closer to humans, which could lead to
(05:36):
attacks later. Innocently trying to give a gator a snack
could be a death sentence for the animal if it
begins approaching people, and wildlife services has to be called in.
Don't throw things at gaiters if one is crossing a
road or path, don't try to move it along. Like
all of us, They're just doing their thing, and they've
got as much right to be here as we do.
(05:58):
More really, when you consider that they've been around for
some eighty four million years and we're the three hundred
thousand year upstarts. Unfortunately, alligator bytes are on a bit
of an upswing, probably because their populations have been recovering
from endangerment and human development is increasingly encroaching on their territory.
(06:18):
In Florida, for example, there was an average of just
one bite per year from nineteen eighty eight through nineteen
ninety nine, but that number jumped to seven a year
between two thousand and twenty sixteen, and in twenty twenty
twelve bytes were reported. Still, the US as a whole
averages less than one alligator related fatality per year. From
(06:41):
nineteen forty eight to two thousand and four, the Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission received reports of three hundred and
fifty six alligator attacks on humans. Only twenty five of
those attacks were fatal, and in nine cases it's believed
that the victims were deceased before the alligators ate them.
Don't overturn boats to capture prey or snatch people out
(07:03):
of boats. If you see an alligator on the water's edge,
silently glide into the water and head towards your boat,
it's probably more afraid than you are. Gators are much
more comfortable in water than on land, so when they're
startled by a boat while sunning themselves, they instinctively head
for the water. Just steer clear. The greatest danger from
(07:26):
alligator attacks is too small children and pets near the
water's edge, either in the shallows or within striking distance.
On land, the supervised play and the buddy system, even
for grown ups, is always the best bet for swimming,
even minus half ton Carnivorous reptiles, alligators lurk in murky
(07:46):
water and where banks are overgrown with weeds or brush.
They're most active at dusk and through the night. If
you are within alligator's natural range, be aware and stick
too clearer waters during the day. If you see a gator,
get out of the water and warn your bank side neighbors.
In the extremely unlikely yet unpleasant event that an alligator
(08:10):
does attack you in the water, don't waste time trying
to pry its jaw open, which is nearly impossible. Do scream, thrash,
and splash to make the gator reconsider its choice, and
if you can aim a blow or poke it its eyes,
that's a pretty solid way to get any animal to
release you. If you're on land, then you think an
(08:31):
alligator is approaching you with malicious intent, run away as
fast as you can a straight line is fine. Gators
are quick in short bursts. They can dash it up
to around nine and a half miles per hour or
fifteen kilometers per hour, which is faster than most humans job.
But gators can't keep it up for long, and we
(08:54):
humans are much better sprinters. Athletes average above seventeen miles
an hour at a sprint. That's twenty seven kilometers per hour,
or nearly twice as fast as a gator's top speed.
You say, in Bolt has been clocked at twenty seven
point eight miles an hour or forty four point seven kilometers.
Even if you're not him, a brisk run should be fine.
(09:15):
Alligators have little endurance and don't give chase. If it
misses its first opportunity to grab its prey, it usually
gives up and goes back to waiting for something easy.
So sure, you could probably escape an alligator if you
ran in a zigzag, but the likelihood that an alligator
would ever chase you on dry land is so low
(09:37):
that the old adage is more joke than genuine advice.
It simply does not apply. Today's episode is based on
the article can you really escape an alligator? If you
run in a zigzag on how stuffworks dot Com, written
by A. Leah Hoyt and Amy Hunter. Brain Stuff is
(09:57):
production by Heart Radio in partnership with how to forks
dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren
boglebam here. Much like the cheetah, the alligator is an
incredibly fast runner. You've probably seen one rise up on
its long, muscular legs and sprint the length of a
football field in pursuit a fleeing prey. No, you've never
(00:25):
seen that. What you've probably seen is more like this.
You're standing by a pond checking out some kind of
heron when you notice two small bumps protruding from the water.
After you take note of the nearby don't feed the
alligator's sign, you put two and two together. Those bumps
are the eyes of a gator lazily floating in the pond.
(00:49):
You might be frightened for a moment, but then you
remember the classic adage. You can escape an alligator if
you run in a zigzag, and this brings you comfort.
But should it. This saying, which is so old and
so widespread that it's virtually impossible to determine where or
why it started, implies first that an alligator is likely
(01:13):
to chase you across land, and second that alligators can
run faster than humans, at least when they're running in
a straight line. Neither of these are exactly true. Oh
what's true for sure is that you should avoid encouraging
an alligator to chase you under any circumstances. But they
don't really conduct chases on dry land because that's not
(01:35):
what they're built for, and if one did, you could
almost certainly outsprint it. Today, let's talk a little about
alligator's safety, including how alligators do and don't attack. The
American alligator is an apex predator and keystone species in
its native environment, which is the mostly freshwater systems of
(01:57):
the American South, ranging from eastern Texas up into Arkansas
and across the warm southeast up to the coastal Carolinas.
They are large, cold blooded reptiles, which means they do
a lot of work to work as little as possible
in order to conserve energy. They'll eat pretty much anything
they can get a hold of, and they actually create
(02:19):
environments for their food sources by digging or wallowing in
the mud or silt of a water bed, making pockets
that won't dry out during the dry season. But gator's
entire mode of cuisine is based on energy conservation. They
prefer to sneak up on their prey in the water,
they can float motionless and swim silently, their eyes set
(02:42):
on the top of their head like a periscope. They're
patient hunters and will wait in the water for hours
before lunging at an opportune snack. Once they attack, if
the prey does fight back, a gator will typically abandon it,
and they don't tend to attack anything that they can't
swim in a single gulp. Even large alligators choose prey
(03:04):
that's relatively small, which is good news for adult humans.
This has to do with an alligator's jaw and throat structure.
A gater kills by latching onto its prey with its
strong jaws and teeth designed to crush shells and bones.
It'll then perform the death roll, rolling over and over
(03:24):
in the water until its prey drowns or bleeds out.
The alligator then juggles the prey around in its mouth
so that it can toss it down its throat in
one bite. That massive jaw that allows it to hang
on to prey so securely also prevents it from chewing
and swallowing, and its teeth aren't particularly sharp. If a
(03:45):
gater does take down prey, too large to swallow a hole,
it'll store it until it rots enough to tear chunks
out of which, even for a gator, is not the
most delicious prospect. Small alligators make up the majority of
the population. An alligator that's less than five feet or
one and a half meters long will typically eat crawfish,
(04:08):
small snakes, and turtles. They don't even present a threat
to small dogs, let alone people. Large alligators are less common,
but they can be big enough to size us up
as a legitimate meal. A full grown gator can be
some eight to eleven feet long that's two and a
half to three and a half meters and weigh up
(04:28):
to one thousand pounds or four hundred and fifty kilos.
They are a threat, but they're still wary of us.
We're big and noisy, and they tend to avoid interactions
with people all together. When an alligator snaps its jaws
and bellows at people, it may look like it's rearing
for an attack, but this is really just defensive posturing.
(04:50):
It's hoping that you will leave it alone. An alligator
is most likely to attack humans when it's protecting its
territory or nest, or otherwise sees the person as a threat.
Early to Midsummer is mating season, and adult male gaters
become territorial. Later in the year, a female gater may
attack if she perceives a threat to her eggs or hatchlings. Generally,
(05:14):
just don't try to pet alligators or other wild animals.
They're not pets. But if you see an adorable young gaiter,
you must assume its mother is nearby and will not
take kindly to stranger danger. No matter how small an
alligator is, don't attempt to feed it. This only encourages
them to get closer to humans, which could lead to
(05:36):
attacks later. Innocently trying to give a gator a snack
could be a death sentence for the animal if it
begins approaching people, and wildlife services has to be called in.
Don't throw things at gaiters if one is crossing a
road or path, don't try to move it along. Like
all of us, They're just doing their thing, and they've
got as much right to be here as we do.
(05:58):
More really, when you consider that they've been around for
some eighty four million years and we're the three hundred
thousand year upstarts. Unfortunately, alligator bytes are on a bit
of an upswing, probably because their populations have been recovering
from endangerment and human development is increasingly encroaching on their territory.
(06:18):
In Florida, for example, there was an average of just
one bite per year from nineteen eighty eight through nineteen
ninety nine, but that number jumped to seven a year
between two thousand and twenty sixteen, and in twenty twenty
twelve bytes were reported. Still, the US as a whole
averages less than one alligator related fatality per year. From
(06:41):
nineteen forty eight to two thousand and four, the Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission received reports of three hundred and
fifty six alligator attacks on humans. Only twenty five of
those attacks were fatal, and in nine cases it's believed
that the victims were deceased before the alligators ate them.
Don't overturn boats to capture prey or snatch people out
(07:03):
of boats. If you see an alligator on the water's edge,
silently glide into the water and head towards your boat,
it's probably more afraid than you are. Gators are much
more comfortable in water than on land, so when they're
startled by a boat while sunning themselves, they instinctively head
for the water. Just steer clear. The greatest danger from
(07:26):
alligator attacks is too small children and pets near the
water's edge, either in the shallows or within striking distance.
On land, the supervised play and the buddy system, even
for grown ups, is always the best bet for swimming,
even minus half ton Carnivorous reptiles, alligators lurk in murky
(07:46):
water and where banks are overgrown with weeds or brush.
They're most active at dusk and through the night. If
you are within alligator's natural range, be aware and stick
too clearer waters during the day. If you see a gator,
get out of the water and warn your bank side neighbors.
In the extremely unlikely yet unpleasant event that an alligator
(08:10):
does attack you in the water, don't waste time trying
to pry its jaw open, which is nearly impossible. Do scream, thrash,
and splash to make the gator reconsider its choice, and
if you can aim a blow or poke it its eyes,
that's a pretty solid way to get any animal to
release you. If you're on land, then you think an
(08:31):
alligator is approaching you with malicious intent, run away as
fast as you can a straight line is fine. Gators
are quick in short bursts. They can dash it up
to around nine and a half miles per hour or
fifteen kilometers per hour, which is faster than most humans job.
But gators can't keep it up for long, and we
(08:54):
humans are much better sprinters. Athletes average above seventeen miles
an hour at a sprint. That's twenty seven kilometers per hour,
or nearly twice as fast as a gator's top speed.
You say, in Bolt has been clocked at twenty seven
point eight miles an hour or forty four point seven kilometers.
Even if you're not him, a brisk run should be fine.
(09:15):
Alligators have little endurance and don't give chase. If it
misses its first opportunity to grab its prey, it usually
gives up and goes back to waiting for something easy.
So sure, you could probably escape an alligator if you
ran in a zigzag, but the likelihood that an alligator
would ever chase you on dry land is so low
(09:37):
that the old adage is more joke than genuine advice.
It simply does not apply. Today's episode is based on
the article can you really escape an alligator? If you
run in a zigzag on how stuffworks dot Com, written
by A. Leah Hoyt and Amy Hunter. Brain Stuff is
(09:57):
production by Heart Radio in partnership with how to forks
dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
BrainStuff News
Host
Lauren Vogelbaum
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.