‘It’s time to move’: Giant cannibal alligator eats smaller gator in South Carolina backyard

‘That’s not your parents’ backyard. It’s his,’ one Twitter user wrote, referring to the giant reptile

An alligator devours a smaller gator in a backyard in Horry County, South Carolina (Twitter / Taylor Soper)

Twitter can’t take its eyes off a viral video of a cannibal alligator chowing down on another member of its own species.

Podcaster Taylor Soper tweeted the footage, which he says his father filmed on Thursday in his backyard in Horry County, South Carolina. The horrifying video shows an enormous gator swallowing a smaller one – smaller meaning six feet long.

“This happened in my parents backyard today,” Mr Soper wrote. “The snack is a 6ft gator.”

Other Twitter users were aghast at the footage.

“Godzilla lives in your backyard?” one asked.

“It’s time to move your parents,” another advised.

“That’s not your parents’ backyard. It’s his,” someone else wrote, apparently referring to the alligator.

As of Monday, the video has amassed 4.7 million views and 47,000 likes on Twitter. But the man who filmed it is not even on the platform.

“My dad captures some good stuff,” Mr Soper tweeted. “All credit to him but he doesn’t have social media.”

Mr Soper told USA Today that when his father shot the footage, it was the second time he’d seen a cannibal alligator on his property that week. The previous weekend, the dad believes he saw the smaller alligator – which eventually became the larger one’s “snack” – eating an even smaller gator.

Experts say cannibalism is common among American alligators, and may even help keep their populations stable.

“Even the seemingly low rate of juvenile mortality attributed to cannibalism reported here may be an important factor in population regulation,” members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wrote in a 2011 report.

But that hasn’t stopped Twitter users from reacting with horror.

“Where tf your parents live? Lake Placid?” one commented, alluding to the 1999 monster movie.

“Add South Carolina to the list of places I’m never going to visit again,” another wrote.