Say Cheese! Texas A&M Grad Takes Photos with Massive Gator
Warning: Do not try this at home, kids.
It's typical to want to take graduation photos to commemorate such a momentous occasion. It's normal to want to take photos with your school's mascot. For me, that would have been Lady or Joy, the American black bears that live on Baylor University's campus. However, one student went a completely different direction... with an alligator.
It's not something you see every day and that's the very reason it is going viral on social media.
According to USA Today, Makenzie Noland graduated from Texas A&M University with a wildlife ecology degree. She had also been interning at the Gator Country Rescue in Beaumont, Texas. Put two and two together and it starts to make sense why Makenzie chose to get in a pool with a 14-foot, 1,000 pound gator named Big Tex.
They're friends, of course.
In her Instagram photos, it looks like Makenzie is actually baiting Big Tex to "sit pretty" for the photo. Meanwhile, she is wearing her graduation cap and sash. She looks extremely calm, while Tex actually looks quite adorable. Makenzie even managed to get a photo of Big Tex balancing her Aggie class ring on his nose!
Despite this, experts say that the photo should not be recreated.
Here's a video from ABC News: