Woman shocked by 9ft alligator missing half of its jaw in confusing encounter

Florida’s Stacey Lynette snapped a photo of the large reptile happily swimming through murky water while appearing to have the top half of its jaw ripped off

A woman was shocked after seeing a ten foot alligator swimming around missing half its jaw.

The large reptile was spotted in the Florida Everglades gliding through the water with the tip of its jaw ripped off.

Stacey Lynette spotted the predator happily swimming around in a murky swampland, where she snapped a picture of the alligator, which was missing a piece of its jaw star reports.

She took to Facebook to say: “I saw this alligator far away and it looked weird to me.

“I grabbed my camera and seriously, the entire end of his upper jaw is missing.

“The photo quality is c**p because he was really far away. From the looks of him, he’s fine.”

Adam Rosenblatt, a biologist at the University of North Florida, says, “Alligators are really resilient.

“They are built to withstand damage at the immune system level and at the physical level.”

It’s not known how or when the alligator lost its upper jaw, but it’s unlikely to grow back.

The mostly aggressive animals often engage in fights during the mating season, which could explain the injury.

They are also known to have the ability to regrow body parts after an injury, but this serious injury seems pretty much stuck for what it is.

Mr. Stubbs, a US alligator who lost his tail a few years ago while being illegally transported by a group of pet traffickers.

He received a 3D printed replica of the missing appendage.

Justin Georgi, associate professor of anatomy at Midwestern University in Gelandale, Arizona, worked with a local company called STAX3D to use an Artec 3D scanner to create a custom-made tail replica that makes it possible

Mr. Stubbs was supposed to be swimming almost as well as he could before his mishap.