Jones,  a Florida resident, was on a family walk in Oscala National Forest on Sunday when he took this photo. He thinks his son must have startled the raccoon, which then tried to run away, resulting in this surprising scenario.

“I snapped a lucky picture right when the gator slipped into the water and before the raccoon jumped off and scurried away. Without the context you’d think the raccoon was hitching a ride across the river. Pretty amazing,” Richard Jones said in an email to wftv. “Definitely the photo of a lifetime.”

Raccoons are faster than alligators, allowing this little bandit the opportunity to escape! (h/t: abcnews)

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