A photo of a raccoon riding a gator has people talking on Twitter after photographer Richard Jones captures the strange incident at the Ocala National Forest in Silver Springs, Florida, over the weekend.
In an email to the Florida Times-Union, Jones wrote that he and his family were exploring along the Oklawaha River in the national forest and observing alligators when his son went through some palm fronds to view the reptiles from another angle and stumbled upon a startled raccoon. After his discovery, the raccoon lurched forward towards the water and hopped onto a nearby alligator. Jones snapped the “lucky” photo just before the raccoon leaped off the gator and scurried away.
“Without the context you'd think the raccoon was hitching a ride across the river," Jones wrote. "Pretty amazing. Definitely the photo of a lifetime.”
The “raccoon riding alligator” tag has exploded on social media websites as Twitter users especially have been retweeting the image and adding their own takes on the unusual duo.
This Twitter user is predicting the apocalypse as a result of the partnernship:
Someone else took a unique interpretation of the social and cultural ramifications of the dynamic duo:
Some users capitalized on the comical way in which the startled raccoon stumbled upon the alligator’s back for an unplanned excursion:
And this user has received quite enough excitement and entertainment for the day, thanks to these Floridian friends:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.