On May 19, Louisiana resident Ashlyn Bartholomew encountered a rare sight — an alligator crossing the road without a tail. Initially mistaking it for a large dog, she quickly realized it was, in fact, a tailless gator awkwardly waddling across Highway 23 in Plaquemines Parish. Bartholomew captured a video of the creature and shared it on Facebook, where it quickly went viral, amassing thousands of interactions by May 28.
She spotted the reptile while returning from her sons’ baseball practice and said it was “just minding his own business” in the middle of the road. Her caption read, “Y’all be careful. There’s half an alligator walking on the road.”
Reptile expert Robert Mendyk of the Audubon Zoo suggested the gator likely lost its tail in a fight with another male alligator or possibly through a run-in with a boat propeller. Mendyk explained that such injuries, while severe, are not fatal. “They have phenomenal healing abilities,” he noted, adding that the wound would seal over time.
Despite the missing tail, the alligator seemed to be managing just fine — a true survivor of Louisiana’s wild.
