Overview

• A video captured on May 19 by Ashlyn Bartholomew shows the tailless alligator waddling across Highway 23 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
• Observers noted the creature’s tail is entirely severed at the torso, leaving a healed nub where it once was.
• Audubon Zoo reptile expert Robert Mendyk suggests the amputation likely stemmed from a territorial clash or a boat propeller strike.
• Loss of its tail has left the alligator’s swimming and hunting impaired, though its regenerative traits aid its adaptation.
• Viewers on Facebook and other social platforms have flooded posts with messages of distress and concern for the injured reptile.