Alright. Just a guess here, but the instructor put the hat on the gator. My thought is that they were attempting to use their hat as an impromptu blinder so they could wrangle it. Instead, however, the gator could still see, didn't like what was going on, and bailed.
Like something out of fieldwork fail. 
I'm not sure what's better: The alligator wearing the hat, the conservation instructor seemingly grabbing its tail to stop it, or the alligator just not giving a shit and carrying on with its day.
God day sir, I said good day!
What's the charge? Eating a hat? A succulent conservationist hat‽
If you put the hat on his head, it was a gift and he's not stealing anything. No take-backsies!
In college I did my internship working at a reptile house that did educational events at schools, libraries, fairs, etc. We had several alligators but only one that was allowed to wander the grounds (supervised). The property has a creek with high banks running through it that is all snow melt in the summer, and it was my job to go drag Spike out of the water and into the sun when he'd go sit in the icy water too long and couldn't get himself back over the bank.
Seeing that person with a gator by the tail trying to keep it out of the water brings that all flooding back. Spike wasn't that big though.
Did Spike know his name, also did he respond to it?
I'm my few months there I don't think he responded to his name, but he knew the sound of us yelling at him from across the field - that would get his attention.
Alligator: I've warned you Jeff, next time you put your stupid Indiana Jones hat on me I'm gonna put it in the river!
I sense a Paddington style movie coming...
Already exist Lyle Lyle Crocodile
Wow, memory unlocked! I haven't thought about those books since I was a kid!
When something like a hat may actually cost you an arm and a leg.
Happens to people all the time on the bayou here, but we probably don't have conservation instructors, so I suppose the sentence is still unique.
Alligators steal hats all the time?
All the time around here... what, do you think I would just come on the internet and lie?
that's how you tell them apart from crocodiles
They're in North America, not Egypt. One exists here, the other doesn't.
ok nerd
At least my way, I get to keep my hat!
Also, I'm a geek, thanks. Geek = highly trained nerd.
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
