Is that an alligator riding on a manatee?
Even sea creatures need to hail an Uber, quips one viewer of the viral photo on Facebook.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Going my way? A photo of an alligator seemingly hitching a ride atop a manatee in Florida's Blue Spring State Park had people questioning their eyesight.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shared the photo, taken by Dana Menk, back on November 30, but it started to go viral just this week. The FWC posted the image on Facebook, naming it one of the commission's favorites in a manatee-photo contest. And while it does look as if the manatee is giving the gator a lift, that's not actually the case, according to the commission.
The gator happened to be swimming over the manatee, and the photo was snapped just at the right time.
"I would guess that these manatees were hanging out near warm water or heading to warm water and the alligator was looking for a sunny spot to hang out along the shoreline and they simply crossed paths," FWC spokesman Ron Mezich said in a statement to Orlando's WKMG-TV. The statement also noted that alligators are not usually a threat to manatees.
But Facebook commenters had fun with the idea that the gator was hitching a ride. "Even alligators have Ubers," wrote Alex Noles.
Mike Landry wrote, "Witness our fully operational Gatorcraft Carrier."
And Lia Towers summed up the meeting of these two Sunshine State icons: "This is the most Florida to ever Florida."