Watch: Manatee Swims With Gator At Myakka River State Park

Community Corner

Did you know gators, manatees can peacefully share the same habitat? Check out this video of a gator, manatee swimming together in Sarasota.

Tiffany Razzano , Patch Staff

SARASOTA, FL — Ever thought you’d see a manatee and gator swimming side by side? A video making the rounds on social media shows the aquatic mammal and the large reptile peacefully swimming together at Myakka River State Park .

In a video filmed by Dennis Osha, an amateur wildlife photographer in Sarasota, the manatee is calmly tailing a gator, who seems unperturbed. ( Watch the video below. )

He describes the video in his Instagram post as “curious manatee chases large alligator at Myakka River (State) Park.”

Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale, which offers Everglades airboat tours and various wildlife attractions to visitors, also shared the video on its social media pages.

“What the?! A manatee chasing an alligator at (Myakka River State Park.) I thought they were supposed to be friends,” the park posted.

Many might be surprised to learn that manatees and gators peacefully coexist.

In 2016, after it shared a viral image of a gator “riding” a manatee — in reality, it swam over the mammal — the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the two animals are frequently found in the same habitats.

And gators aren’t a threat to large manatees, the agency added. Attacks on manatees are rare and the mammal’s size and speed makes it difficult for gators to catch them, anyway. Gators typically only go after calves.

Watch a manatee and gator swimming together at Myakka River State Park: