This happened in NOLA(New Orleans, Louisiana). My time in NOLA hasn't ended yet, but I have to put this up, cause it might be one of the more crazy things I have done. I grabbed this alligators tail. I would say it was 4 and a half to 5 feet in length. My cousin Nels and I wanted to see alligators so we went hiking in the bayou. We saw one right on the trail and I couldn't get my camera out fast enough and it scurried away as we approached it. This guy was farther down the path. We got him to come toward us by using a stick to make some disturbance in the bushes.

He approached and HISSED. It was a true sign of dangerous animals. He eyed us for a bit and it was pretty exciting. We were calm and collective and felt pretty safe, who knows if we actually were. As he realized that the disturbance wasn't an afternoon snack he turned around. I always wanted to grab a wild alligator so I then decided to reach down and grab his tail. It didn't do much so I decided to once again grab it a little longer. He just wiggled away and under the water. It was quite the experience.