A jaw‑dropping moment at the Gaylord Palms Resort has gone viral after Catherine captured a gator suddenly leaping high out of the water, startling her as it lunged in her direction. The TikTok clip, posted by @holisticspark, has surpassed three million views.

Catherine had been filming the alligator as it stared directly at her, its tail slowly swaying from side to side in the water. Without warning, the gator exploded upward, its mouth wide open, rising far higher than she expected. The sudden movement sent her jumping back in shock as the camera caught the full height of the launch.

I was videoing a gator at Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, FL staring me down. You can see it's tail moving side to side when it suddenly launched itself out of the water towards me. You can see it's mouth open wide, startling us by how high the gator came out of the water.