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Everglades tour guide shows skills with wild alligator

"He tamed the beast!" a child's voice exclaims.

By Ben Hooper
A Florida Everglades guide teaches a tour group about alligators with the help of a wild gator. Storyful video screenshot
A Florida Everglades guide teaches a tour group about alligators with the help of a wild gator. Storyful video screenshot

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EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A tourist visiting Florida shared video of an Everglades tour guide showing off his skills by casually touching and feeding an alligator.

The video, posted to YouTube by user Rod Squad, shows the tour guide touch the top and bottom of the alligator's powerful jaws, explaining how the alligator's inability to see objects in front of it requires it to use its tongue to feel when the time is right to snap its jaws shut.

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The tour guide illustrates his point by tossing a piece of bread on the alligator's tongue, causing it to snap its mouth shut.

"He tamed the beast!" an impressed youngster can be heard saying.

"I know a lot of people can do this, but this grandson of Miccosukee tribe Native Americans gave us the best brief and live alligator demonstration I've seen. This Everglades airboat ride was the best part of our whole Florida vacation," the user wrote in the video's description.

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