{"id":12570,"date":"2010-10-19T21:52:24","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T02:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artofmanliness.com\/?p=12570"},"modified":"2026-01-07T13:55:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:55:39","slug":"how-to-wrestle-an-alligator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/just-for-fun\/how-to-wrestle-an-alligator\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Wrestle an Alligator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Ty Karnitz.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine this situation\u2014you take a break from your exploration of cannibal-infested, uncharted jungle to set up camp along the river when your female traveling companion informs you she\u2019s off to bathe in the river. She leaves you to set camp and start the fire. And start a fire you do, without matches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But just as you\u2019ve gotten the fire going, a scream breaks the jungle\u2019s tranquility. You race down to the river bank and find yourself faced with a situation bred to test your mettle.<\/p>\n

An alligator is approaching your lady love, and the only way to save her is to wrestle the cold-blooded terror into submission.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to wrestle an alligator.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step One: Getting on the Alligator\u2019s Back<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Possibly the most dangerous part of wrestling an alligator is getting on its back. Never attempt to jump an alligator from the side or from the front. Doing so is the easiest way to get bit. You want to approach the alligator from behind. If possible, have someone distract the animal so it doesn\u2019t turn to keep an eye on you.<\/p>\n

However, if that\u2019s not possible, take off your shirt and use it as a blindfold (or use a towel). Throw your shirt on the top of the gator\u2019s head, making sure to cover its eyes. Without sight, the alligator is much slower to react.<\/p>\n

Draw a straight line down the alligator’s head and back, and tail if possible. Get a running start down that line and, staying low, leap onto the animal with hands extended forward. You want your hands to land at the alligator\u2019s neck, between the back of its jaws and the front legs. When you land on the animal, push down with all your might on the neck to force the head to the ground.<\/p>\n

Alligators open their mouths the same way humans do. That means the bottom jaw moves\u2014the top doesn\u2019t. By pinning the head to the ground, you\u2019re preventing the jaws from opening.<\/p>\n

You should be high on the gator\u2019s back, near the front shoulders. Your knees should touch the ground but squeeze the animal\u2019s flanks. The lower part of your legs should be pinning the hind legs while keeping the feet from touching the ground.<\/p>\n

Keeping the rear legs from the ground helps prevent the alligator from \u201cdeath rolling\u201d (spinning around violently). When an alligator does this, you\u2019ve lost control of the animal.<\/p>\n

Step Two: Getting Control of the Mouth<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Once on the gator, it\u2019s important to gain control of the mouth. Both hands should still be firmly on the alligator\u2019s neck, pressing down hard with your full body weight.<\/p>\n

Rule of thumb: you\u2019re not going to hurt the alligator, but it can certainly hurt you. Always use all your strength. But remember, technique is more important than brute force.<\/p>\n

Rotate the dominate hand (right or left) forward. Remain in contact with the alligator and keep pressing down as you slide the hand forward down the middle of the alligator\u2019s head. You want to cover both eyes with your hand. Alligators retract their eyes into the skull, so just coming into contact with them should be enough. Again, you\u2019re blinding the animal to give yourself the advantage.<\/p>\n

Now, press down on the eyes with all your weight. Again, pin the head to the ground to prevent its jaws from opening. Slide your other hand forward and down and run it along the bottom jaw line. Put your fingers under the gator\u2019s jaw and you\u2019ll feel soft skin around bone. With fingers under the jaw and palm and thumb on top, grip firmly.<\/p>\n

All of an alligator\u2019s jaw power is on the down stroke. They have almost no muscle power when it comes to opening their jaws. What that means is that you can hold the animal\u2019s mouth shut with one hand. It doesn\u2019t mean you should<\/em> hold it closed with one hand, though.<\/p>\n

Still keeping the head pinned to the ground, slide the hand covering the eyes down until it too can hook the lower jaw.<\/p>\n

Both hands should now be holding the mouth shut.<\/p>\n

Step Three: Submission<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lift the alligator\u2019s head off the ground and toward your chest. Once the head is at close to a ninety degree angle, the gator can no longer fight back.<\/p>\n

Congratulations, you\u2019ve just wrestled an alligator into submission.<\/p>\n

Step Four: Getting Away<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Now comes the tricky part\u2026 How do you get off?<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve saved your lady love, it\u2019s time to release the animal and make a quick retreat.<\/p>\n

Push the alligator\u2019s head back to the ground. Slide the dominant hand back into a position to cover the eyes. Pushing down with the dominant hand, slide your other hand back along the jaw until it is pressing against the neck. Slide your dominant hand back from the eyes to the neck. You should be in the same position now that you were in when you first jumped onto the animal.<\/p>\n

Take your knees off the ground and get your feet under you, so you\u2019re squatting on the gator\u2019s back. Keep your legs tight against the gator\u2019s body. It\u2019s much more difficult for the alligator to bite you when you\u2019re on its back than when you\u2019re off to the side. If the animal struggles, push down again. Don\u2019t let the animal struggle free.<\/p>\n

Grip around the neck. In one motion, throw the alligator as far forward as you can while you jump back. Depending on the alligator\u2019s weight, you might not be able to throw the animal far and that\u2019s okay. Six inches may be all you need to throw it forward. By throwing the animal forward you\u2019re putting it off balance and giving yourself more time to escape.<\/p>\n

Jump back as far as you can, and then keep moving backward. The gator is likely to turn and open its mouth at you and snarl or hiss. Let it. Keep your eyes on it and slowly back away. If the gator chases you, run directly away from it in a straight line. It will quickly grow tired and turn back to the water.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s<\/strong> how to wrestle an alligator.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now you too can be like Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone <\/em>or Tarzan<\/a>. You can save your Jane.<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Ty Karnitz is a wildlife educator and large animal trainer at the Jungle Adventures Zoo in Florida and has personal experience working with alligators.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Ty Karnitz. Imagine this situation\u2014you take a break from your exploration of cannibal-infested, uncharted jungle to set up camp along the river when your female traveling companion informs you she\u2019s off to bathe in the river. She leaves you to set camp and start the fire. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":143566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,42381,42259],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-just-for-fun","category-skills"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/10\/mensadventure_03-538x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/10\/mensadventure_03-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/10\/mensadventure_03-320x244.jpg","reactor-640":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/10\/mensadventure_03-640x487.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12570"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192183,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12570\/revisions\/192183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12570"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}