A young couple have become the first people ever in Florida to have been attacked by a crocodile.
Mike Gregory, 23, and Leigha Poulson, 20, who miraculously escaped with minor injuries, were kayaking in the early morning in Florida Keys after a night out partying, when they were flipped into the water.
As they struggled to get back inside the kayak, they were both bitten on the leg by a crocodile, with Poulson also suffering scratch marks to her side.
Bitten: Mike Gregory shows off his wound, believed to have been
caused by an American crocodile in the first ever attack of its kind
While alligators are a fairly common danger in Florida, no one is thought to have been
attacked before in the state by the elusive American crocodile.
Officials have yet to confirm the details of the attack, but the couple are convinced it was a crocodile that bit them and the claims have been backed by a top university biologist.
'I think it's cool. Kind of made history a little bit,' Gregory said. 'We're lucky to be alive.'
Leigha Poulson, who along with Mike Gregory, may have been the victim of the first ever American crocodile attack after their kayak was flipped
Pictures of the attack were sent to Frank Mazzotti, a biologist at
the University of Florida Research and Education Center, who is known as the 'Croc Doc'.
He believes no
other animal could have caused such damage, because the area where the couple were kayaking is inhabited almost
exclusively by crocodiles.
In the keys, crocodiles usually stay in the brackish, salt water,while alligators typically roam further inland in the fresh water.
Attack: An American crocodile in Florida, which are never before thought to have bitten any humans in the state
'That area is almost all crocodiles,' Mazzotti said. 'On very rare occasions an alligator may stray into there. Nine out of 10 times it would be a croc in that area.
'It's possible that it may have been an alligator, but that’s going out on a limb to say that.'
After they were bitten, at around 3.30am on Thursday, the couple thought they must have been attacked by a manatee. It was only later they decided a crocodile might have been responsible.
'We thought we might have hit a manatee and gotten bruised up,' Gregory told the Florida Keynoter.
'We made it back to the house and we got into the light. We looked at each other and were bleeding like crazy.'
American crocodiles are classified as a threatened species and were once on the verge of extinction. Mazzotti said American crocodiles are not as aggressive as their African namesakes.
Speaking of the young couple's run in with the crocodile on Thursday, he said: 'I wouldn't describe it as an attack. It was an escape attempt by the crocodile.
'They are not grabbing you to eat you. They are giving a warning, "Don’t mess with me."'
