Alligators would prefer to avoid interactions with people altogether. Even though these alligators are a threat to humans, they're still wary of us. A full-grown alligator that is between 8 and 11 feet (2.4 and 3.4 meters) could weigh up to 1,000 pounds (453 kilograms). Large alligators are less common, but they're the greatest threat to humans because they're big enough to size us up as a legitimate meal. While a bite may not be life threatening, it still requires a visit to the hospital. Even small alligators have 60 to 80 razor-sharp teeth. In fact, trying to capture an alligator is the most common way people get bitten by one. Sometimes people think small alligators - say, smaller than 3 feet (0.9 meters) - will make a good pet. Why wouldn't an alligator chase you? And how would it attack you instead? But the likelihood that an alligator would ever chase you on dry land is so low that the old adage is more joke than genuine advice. You probably also could escape one if you ran in a straight line. So sure, you could probably escape an alligator if you ran in a zigzag. It can also remain underwater for extended periods of time and hold its breath for up to one hour. Its eyes are set on top of its head, so it can swim while watching what's happening on the surface. And it's silent as it moves through water. It's a much faster swimmer than runner - it can swim 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers per hour). The alligator prefers to sneak up on its prey in the water. More importantly, gaining on prey via a long sprint is not the alligator's attack tactic. And the average human could easily outrun an alligator, zigzagging or not - it tops out at a speed of around 9.5 miles per hour (15 kph), and it can't maintain that speed for very long. It's very rare for an alligator to chase a human on dry land. The truth is, although alligators are frighteningly quick, they're not cheetah fast and they don't like to run long distances. Two, it implies that alligators can run faster than humans - at least when they're running in a straight line. But should it? This saying, which is so old and so widespread that it's virtually impossible to determine where or why it was ever started, implies a couple of things: One, it implies that an alligator is likely to chase you a long distance on land.
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