- Texas A&M University student Makenzie Noland took graduation photos with a giant alligator.
- Noland interned over the summer at an alligator reserve, but the photos are still terrifying.
- The alligator's name is Big Tex.
For her graduation photoshoot, Texas A&M University student Makenzie Noland didn't pose with her classmates, but instead chose a 14-foot-long, 1,000-pound alligator named Big Tex to model with her.
Over the summer, Noland interned at Gator Country Rescue in Beaumont, Texas. She took pictures with Big Tex in a pond there — including one with her class ring carefully perched on its nose — and posted them to Instagram and Facebook, where they went viral.
Noland is hoping to go into zookeeping and wildlife preservation when she graduates, having majored in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M.
The Gator Country Rescue is a 15-acre rescue area that takes care of alligators and a few other types of reptiles. Noland said Tex can look scary, but they have a close bond.
"I know on a moment's notice it can turn bad but he doesn't want to hurt us, he tries to watch our backs," she told Good Morning America. "Whenever we go into any other alligator's pond he's up there looking at us, making sure we're OK."
Still, don't try this at home.