Watch Merle Haggard’s Heartfelt Performance Of “Mama Tried” With His Mom In The Front Row

Merle Haggard, man. The country music legend is known for being a cornerstone of the "Bakersfield Sound," but depending on who you ask, he makes a strong case for a place on the "Mount Rushmore of Country Music." Known as a bit of a country music outlaw, a reputation that might be well-earned given his days in infamouis San Quentin Prison, however here, we have a much more heartfelt moment from The Hag. Merle Haggard was locked up in Bakersfield, CA, on counts of burglary, and was transferred to San Quentin after a failed escape attempt 1958. It was in San Quentin that he fell in love with country music, after hearing a prison performance from the Man In Black himself, Mr. Johnny Cash. His days in San Quentin were the inspiration for a lot of his songs, including the song we all know and love, "Mama Tried." The lyrics in "Mama Tried" describe the hardships that Merle's mother went through while trying to raise him and his siblings, and how his childhood in poverty led him to a life of crime. "And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole. No one could steer me right, but Mama tried, Mama tried Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading I denied That leaves only me to blame 'cause Mama tried..." This song landed Merle his fifth number one song on The Billboard Hot Country Singles charts in 1968, and ultimately won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. It was even selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry due to its "cultural, historic, or artistic significance" on March 23, 2016, only 14 days before Haggard's death. With all of the notoriety "Mama Tried" brought to Haggard, he couldn't forget the one person who influenced this song the most: Mama Haggard herself. Here we see a tenderhearted moment between a mother and her son, as Merle sings "Mama Tried" to the "mama that tried" her hardest. With his mom sitting in the front row, bursting with emotion as her son performs a song in her honor, you can only imagine how special this performance was for ol' Merle. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_nXq5NRiDA

Merle Haggard Recording “Pancho And Lefty” With Willie Nelson

Back in 2021, Eric Church was on Zane Lowe’s “At Home” podcast to discuss some of his favorite music of all time, and he told the crazy story of how Merle and Willie ended up recording the song in the first place. Of course, Eric is a huge fan of The Hag, dedicating an entire song on his first album Sinners Like Me, “Pledge Allegiance To The Hag”, to the greatness and legend that is Merle Haggard. He even told Zane: “I believe Merle Haggard is the greatest country singer, of his songs, of all time.” Which is due in large part to Merle’s authenticity... “You know why you believe him? It’s true. Everything he did. That’s him. Merle dying was a really hard day for me, because Merle is the quintessential country music singer. At least of my generation, of my life. His interpretation of songs, the interpretation not his own songs, but other people’s songs. I mean the ‘Yesterday’s Wine’ record between George Jones and Merle Haggard is the most fun record I’ve ever heard. You can tell they’re completely blitzed out of their mind and it’s awesome. It’s awesome.” And Eric has the greatest example you’ll ever hear about the legend that is Merle Haggard: “I heard Willie tell a story one time. This will put it in perspective of that era… So ‘Pancho and Lefty’ is a big Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson song. They’re partyin’, they’re at Willie’s studio, they’re at Willie’s house and they’re goin’ hard one night. And Willie convinces Merle to record this Townes Van Zandt song called ‘Pancho and Lefty’.” Seems like the perfect time to record a hit country song if you ask me: “Merle hears it, Merle loves it, Merle goes in and does that last verse, which I think is a classic last verse of any Merle Haggard performance. Well, Merle goes to his bus, which is parked at Willie’s studio, he passes out. He gets up the next morning and walks in and goes ‘Hey Willie, what did we do last night? We recorded, what was that thing?’ Willie says, ‘We recorded the song called ‘Pancho and Lefty’ Townes Van Zandt wrote.’ Merle goes, ‘I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind to do that. I wanna re-record it.’ And Willie goes, ‘Hoss, that’s already out of here on its way to New York. It’ll be on the radio next week.'” Willie knew there was going to be some next-day regret from their wild night of drinking and sent the mix off before Merle even woke up... and these are exactly the kinds of stories that make country music what it is. A lot of the time, the best music is raw and natural, not over polished and perfectly edited for the radio: “And I thought, that is the purity of music right there. Merle couldn’t even fix it, it was gone. It’s classic. It sounds fantastic.” I love hearing stuff like that, and it’s so cool to see Eric impart his wisdom of the genre on all of us. Listen to Merle tell the story himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4VfPWA0S2o

ACM Awards 1981: George Jones Thanks His “Ex-Wife & New Husband-In-Law” After Top Male Vocalist Win

With the ACM Awards less than weeks away, we're going to take the opportunity took back at some great ACM moments from years past. And to kick it off, we're taking it back even farther... back to 1981. George Jones' career-defining hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today" took home the ACM Award for Song of the Year and he also won Top Male Vocalist at the 16th Annual ACM Awards. For the latter, Jim Stafford and Susan Anton presented him with the award, but during his acceptance speech, he hilariously took the opportunity to thank his ex-wife Tammy Wynette and her new husband.

"This is the greatest thrill of my life... you know, everybody says that but the things that have happened so good for me in the past few months, all you people made it happen for me.

And we love you and we appreciate it, we thank Columbia Records and Epic, and we thank all our fans, especially.

And I thank my ex-wife and new husband-in-law... Tammy Wynette... Thank you so much."

Classic. And while that might sound like a dig, it sounds like a sincere, light-hearted, humorous thank you to his ex-wife for inspiring one of his greatest hits. The hit that turned his career around when it seemed like he was on his way to fading out of the country music spotlight for good. Of course, George had battled alcoholism and drug abuse which ultimately led to his divorce from Tammy in 1975. And then Tammy married songwriter George Richey (who allegedly had his own issues with abuse) in 1978. George would go on to win the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award in 1993. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu5BCuEox8o He also accepted the award for Song of the Year, but that speech wasn't nearly as eventful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDOKGdJnPCs

2024 ACM Awards Nominees

And the nominees are… The ACM Awards will stream exclusively on Prime Video on Thursday, May 16th at 8 p.m. EST from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR Kane Brown Luke Combs Jelly Roll Cody Johnson Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen Lainey Wilson FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Kelsea Ballerini Ashley McBryde Megan Moroney Kacey Musgraves Lainey Wilson MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Luke Combs Jelly Roll Cody Johnson Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen DUO OF THE YEAR Brooks & Dunn Brothers Osborne Dan + Shay Maddie & Tae The War And Treaty GROUP OF THE YEAR Flatland Cavalry Lady A Little Big Town Old Dominion Zac Brown Band NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Kassi Ashton Ashley Cooke Hannah Ellis Kylie Morgan Megan Moroney NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR ERNEST Kameron Marlowe Dylan Scott Conner Smith Nate Smith NEW DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEAR Neon Union Restless Road Tigirlily Gold ALBUM OF THE YEAR Gettin’ Old – Luke Combs (Producer: Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton, Luke Combs) Higher – Chris Stapleton (Producer: Chris Stapleton, Dave Cobb, Morgane Stapleton) Leather – Cody Johnson (Producers: Trent Willmon) One Thing At A Time – Morgan Wallen (Producers: Joey Moi, Cameron Montgomery, Charlie Handsome, Jacob Durrett) Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good) – Kelsea Ballerini (Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Alysa Vanderheym) SINGLE OF THE YEAR Burn It Down – Parker McCollum (Producer: Jon Randall) Fast Car – Luke Combs (Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton) Last Night – Morgan Wallen (Producer: Joey Moi, Charlie Handsome) Need A Favor – Jelly Roll (Producer: Austin Nivarel) Next Thing You Know – Jordan Davis (Producer: Paul DiGiovanni) SONG OF THE YEAR Fast Car – Luke Combs, Songwriters: Tracy Chapman Heart Like A Truck – Lainey Wilson, Songwriters: Dallas Wilson, Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson Next Thing You Know – Jordan Davis, Songwriters: Chase McGill, Greylan James, Jordan Davis, Josh Osborne The Painter – Cody Johnson, Songwriters: Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins Tennessee Orange – Megan Moroney, Songwriters: Ben Williams, David Fanning, Megan Moroney, Paul Jenkins MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR Can’t Break Up Now – Old Dominion, Megan Moroney Different ‘Round Here – Riley Green (Ft. Luke Combs) I Remember Everything – Zach Bryan (feat. Kacey Musgraves) Man Made A Bar – Morgan Wallen (feat. Eric Church) Save Me – Jelly Roll (with Lainey Wilson) VISUAL MEDIA OF THE YEAR Burn It Down – Parker McCollum Human – Cody Johnson In Your Love – Tyler Childers Next Thing You Know – Jordan Davis Tennessee Orange – Megan Moroney SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Jessie Jo Dillon Ashley Gorley Hillary Lindsey Chase McGill Josh Thompson ARTIST-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Zach Bryan ERNEST HARDY Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen

Maya Rudolph Channels Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” Vibe In ‘Hot Ones’ Skit On ‘Saturday Night Live’

Maya Rudolph returned to Saturday Night Live and graced viewers with a second helping of Beyoncé eating hot wings in a parody of the Hot Ones interviews with Sean Evans. Seldom are sequels superior to the original in any medium, but like Ryan Gosling did with his Avatar sketches, Rudolph eclipsed her initial take on Beyoncé here. It certainly doesn't hurt that Rudolph pretty much perfectly replicated the wardrobe Beyoncé rocked on the cover of her latest album, Cowboy Carter. https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1789505766484783272 Big ups to Mikey Day for crushing it as Evans once again, right on the heels of teaming with Gosling for the ultimate live-action Beavis and Butt-Head dynamic duo. But obviously, Rudolph's Beyoncé is center stage here. In case you're unfamiliar with Hot Ones for some reason, the real-life Evans does indeed bring on celebrity guests for impeccably-researched, deep-dive interviews. The hook is that he and his guests eat chicken wings with progressively hotter sauces, which can lead to some of the more authentic moments you'll ever see out of any given public figure. This is just great all around. There are a couple questions about why Beyoncé decided to take her second album in a planned trilogy in a country-centric direction. It was quite a polarizing decision, with her rendition of "Jolene" causing quite a stir — even though Dolly Parton herself really enjoyed the cover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9XHMK3nWr4 In any event, Cowboy Carter has been almost universally praised, and it's far from just a 100% country album. Lots of genres mixed in there. There's substance to the record in its lyrical content and nods to music history. It's not just some cheap creative stunt. Circling back to the sketch, my favorite moment was when Kenan Thompson's assistant character brings out the fictitious Beyonce's $6,000 lotion as a makeshift fire extinguisher to cool her off from the spicy wings. She winds up with a lotion goatee of sorts that only befits her wardrobe even more so. All we need is for Beyoncé to do Hot Ones for real now. Considering it's been parodied twice on SNL at this point, I hope that's enough manifestation to actually get her to sit down with Evans for some wings. But like she said in the original sketch, "I can't tell if this is beneath me yet." FWIW, I don't think it is beneath Beyoncé. So many celebs have done it at this point that it's a rite of passage and a badge of honor. On this fine Sunday, it happens to be Mother's Day. In the spirit of the holiday, Hot Ones actually made a point to highlight all the guests who've gone on at the behest of their children. https://twitter.com/firstwefeast/status/1789671885120110890 Conan O'Brien just did a phenomenal Hot Ones spot. Highly recommend. You can find that below along with Rudolph's first SNL run as Beyoncé from a few years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FALlhXl6CmA "Hot Ones with Beyoncé" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJYc3m89nwk

Livvy Dunne Has A Keeper: Paul Skenes’ 7 Strikeouts In His MLB Debut Raised $700 For Veterans & First Responders

Not that any pop culture power couple is going to hold a candle to the wattage that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are generating right now, but Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes and LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne are quite the pair in their own right. Dunne has raked in millions of dollars as one of the most visible athletes in the NCAA's name, image and likeness explosion, while Skenes — who met Dunne at LSU — was the first overall pick in the MLB Draft and has a $9.2 million signing bonus already in tow. Skenes was bringing the heat in his first big-league appearance on Saturday against the Cubs, registering triple digits on the radar gun consistently and striking out seven Chicago batters in four-plus innings of work. Although he was charged with three runs and ended the day with a 6.75 ERA, Pittsburgh yanked Skenes with two on and no outs in the fifth inning. Had he stayed in, the 21-year-old might've retired the side. Oh well. The Pirates still won 10-9, and cue all the clever-minded people who comment with things like, "And Skenes will win when he goes home, too!" Unintentional baseball pun there. You know the drill with all that. So yes, Dunne's in-game interview was wholesome... https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1789409858334105964 ...And Skenes certainly lived up to the hype on the mound. https://twitter.com/CodifyBaseball/status/1789395565090132158 https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1789411618553516298 ...There's something that transcends baseball and the obvious appeal of the Skenes-Dunne couple that's worth highlighting here. I only became aware of it by trying to find a different angle on this story, and checking out Skenes' X/Twitter account. His only post of the calendar year to date is as follows: https://twitter.com/Paul_Skenes/status/1773206331505152290 How cool is that? Simple math, too! So Skenes' seven strikeouts carried far more significance than just about anything else that happened during his MLB debut. Those Ks meant $700 are going to the Gary Sinese Foundation. Sinise is an iconic actor and a massive supporter of veterans. He played one of cinema's most memorable military officers, Lieutenant Dan Taylor, in Forrest Gump. Gotta love Skenes joining in to help the cause. It's kind of a high-key flex on Skenes' part, too. He knew that he was going to the big leagues soon enough, and that once he got there, he was going to make the best batters in the world look silly and strike out a lot. Beyond the easy 100+ mph gas he has on that heater of his, Skenes has a secondary pitch that's arguably an even more lethal weapon: the splinker. https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1789408635333841333 https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1789404266530054209 Paul Skenes got that dawg in him. Pitching talent for days. A good heart given his desire to help veterans, first responders, and families. Oh yeah, and he's dating Livvy Dune. Sounds like a decent life. https://www.instagram.com/livvydunne/p/Cz2cDS2AKj6/

Lainey Wilson Shares Teaser Of New Song “Hang Tight Honey,” Announces It’s Dropping TONIGHT

Lainey hitting us with the new music already. The Queen of Bell Bottom Country, Lainey Wilson announced last week that her next album, Whirlwind, would be dropping on August 23. The 14-track album will feature the previously-released single "Country's Cool Again," and Lainey also shared a teaser of a song called "Dear Hippie," which was inspired by her dog Hippie Mae. But now we're getting our first full single since the album was announced. Lainey just shared a teaser of a rockin' new song called "Hang Tight Honey," while also announcing that the song would be dropping TONIGHT at midnight eastern time.

 

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The new song has a classic rock feel reminiscent of bands like The Who or The Rolling Stones, and was written by Lainey herself along with Jason Nix, Paul Sikes and Driver Williams (who's not only a songwriter but also the guitarist for Eric Church). Fans in the comments are already loving the teaser and anxiously awaiting the new song. But luckily, they won't have to wait too long.

 

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ACM Awards 2009: Matthew McConaughey Recalls Telling Women He Made George Strait’s Custom Boots – “We Got Lucky That Night, Thank You, George”

With the 59th Annual ACM Awards getting underway in just a next week, we’ve been looking back at some of the most memorable moments from years past. We recently took a look back at Miranda Lambert’s 2019 Oklahoma shade towards Blake Shelton during a performance of “Little Red Wagon,” Alan Jackson's legendary drumstick protest, Rascal Flatts lip synching and many, many more. And now, we're taking it back to 2009. If you remember that ol' Kenny Chesney song "Out Last Night," there's a line in there that goes a little something like this: "I was a doctor, a lawyer, a senator's son, Brad Pitt's brother, and a man on the run, anything I thought would get the job done." The truth is, we've probably have all been guilty of stretching the truth a time or two... hundred. I mean, saying "I'm an associate at a real estate firm" or "I sell insurance" isn't exactly going to have the ladies lining up outside your bedroom door. Sometimes you want to impress them, and sometimes... you're just bored. Guys do it, girls do it, we've all done it... even the great Matthew McConaughey did it way back in 1987. At the 2009 ACM Awards, McConaughey told the story about how he and his brother met a couple ladies at a Dwight Yoakam concert in 1987. And when they asked the McConaughey brothers what they do for a living, they said without hesitation: "We have an exclusive contract with George Strait, we custom make his boots. As a matter of fact, out in the parking lot in the trunk of our white Corvette, we have next year's new edition, white Ostrich quill, George Strait signed series that he's gonna wear on tour." Naturally, the ladies wanted to see those boots, and needless to say... they, as McConaughey put it, obliged.  "We got lucky that night, thank you George." Even Carrie Underwood, who took home the ACM Entertainer of the Year award that night, wanted to see those boots... "I don't know what to say... I wanna see those boots Matthew." And even though Carrie said she was kidding... the crowd ROARED. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zz4XpRC1n8 McConaughey also starred in Trisha Yearwood's "Walkaway Joe" music video back in the early '90s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCdCuduv0H0 As well as Jamey Johnson's "Playing The Part" video in 2010: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAplw9CIXuk

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2024 ACM Awards Nominees

And the nominees are… Luke Combs has the most nominations coming in at eight in total, with Megan Moroney and Morgan Wallen coming in right behind him at six, respectively. Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton, and Lainey Wilson follow them with five each. The ACM Awards will stream exclusively on Prime Video on Thursday, May 16th at 8 p.m. EST from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. And with all that being said, here are the nominees: ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR Kane Brown Luke Combs Jelly Roll Cody Johnson Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen Lainey Wilson FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Kelsea Ballerini Ashley McBryde Megan Moroney Kacey Musgraves Lainey Wilson MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Luke Combs Jelly Roll Cody Johnson Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen DUO OF THE YEAR Brooks & Dunn Brothers Osborne Dan + Shay Maddie & Tae The War And Treaty GROUP OF THE YEAR Flatland Cavalry Lady A Little Big Town Old Dominion Zac Brown Band NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Kassi Ashton Ashley Cooke Hannah Ellis Kylie Morgan Megan Moroney NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR ERNEST Kameron Marlowe Dylan Scott Conner Smith Nate Smith NEW DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEAR Neon Union Restless Road Tigirlily Gold ALBUM OF THE YEAR  Gettin’ Old - Luke Combs (Producer: Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton, Luke Combs) Higher - Chris Stapleton (Producer: Chris Stapleton, Dave Cobb, Morgane Stapleton) Leather - Cody Johnson (Producers: Trent Willmon) One Thing At A Time - Morgan Wallen (Producers: Joey Moi, Cameron Montgomery, Charlie Handsome, Jacob Durrett) Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good) - Kelsea Ballerini (Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Alysa Vanderheym) SINGLE OF THE YEAR Burn It Down - Parker McCollum (Producer: Jon Randall) Fast Car - Luke Combs (Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton) Last Night - Morgan Wallen (Producer: Joey Moi, Charlie Handsome) Need A Favor - Jelly Roll (Producer: Austin Nivarel) Next Thing You Know - Jordan Davis (Producer: Paul DiGiovanni) SONG OF THE YEAR  Fast Car - Luke Combs, Songwriters: Tracy Chapman Heart Like A Truck - Lainey Wilson, Songwriters: Dallas Wilson, Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson Next Thing You Know - Jordan Davis, Songwriters: Chase McGill, Greylan James, Jordan Davis, Josh Osborne The Painter - Cody Johnson, Songwriters: Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins Tennessee Orange - Megan Moroney, Songwriters: Ben Williams, David Fanning, Megan Moroney, Paul Jenkins MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR Can’t Break Up Now - Old Dominion, Megan Moroney Different ‘Round Here - Riley Green (Ft. Luke Combs) I Remember Everything - Zach Bryan (feat. Kacey Musgraves) Man Made A Bar - Morgan Wallen (feat. Eric Church) Save Me - Jelly Roll (with Lainey Wilson) VISUAL MEDIA OF THE YEAR Burn It Down - Parker McCollum Human - Cody Johnson In Your Love - Tyler Childers Next Thing You Know - Jordan Davis Tennessee Orange - Megan Moroney SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Jessie Jo Dillon Ashley Gorley Hillary Lindsey Chase McGill Josh Thompson ARTIST-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Zach Bryan ERNEST HARDY Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen

New Hampshire Woman Hauls In Massive 650-Pound Bluefin Tuna… BY HERSELF… & Gets Blasted For It

This is insane. A lot of us have been on some basic fishing trips, reeling in a few bass, maybe some catfish, or maybe even some big ol' muskie and pike up; north... the kind of fish that make us feel like kings and queens of the lake. But a monster tuna? Most of us probably aren't in that boat (no pun intended). Last October, lifetime angler Michelle Bancewicz Cicale of Seabrook, New Hampshire, reeled in the catch of her life... by herself. We're talking about a 643-pound Bluefin Tuna... completely solo. When you see the video of Cicale trying to get the massive fish into her boat named "No Limits," it's mindboggling how much bigger this fish is than her. It looks like it'll sink the boat... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRhbpF7gn0 I mean seriously, one would think this is a David and Goliath story. This specific catch was much larger than the average Bluefin Tuna, as National Geographic states that the average Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is 6.5 feet in length, and 550 pounds. And perhaps the most mindboggling part, is the fact that this is only half of the New Hampshire state record for Bluefin Tuna in New Hampshire, as Garth Morin, Bruce DelleChiaie, and Rick Green landed a 962-pounder back in 2013, according to On The Water. The word record comes in just shy of a whopping 1,500 pounds. However, the Twitter crowd didn't take too fondly of the catch, as the video drew a number of "but why?" type of responses. Never had sushi? What do you think a tuna looks like? Needless to say, the clueless Twitter mob let her have it: https://twitter.com/Shotokhan1/status/1545776116765528066 https://twitter.com/LisaA31745884/status/1545920210716295168 https://twitter.com/RaskeScott/status/1545819297104248833 https://twitter.com/CryptosCircus/status/1545807936919781376 https://twitter.com/my_kulll/status/1546218689439023104 https://twitter.com/Danny_W_Dowling/status/1546026446199693312 https://twitter.com/ShellyB0918/status/1546228047308791815 https://twitter.com/SI98158754/status/1545990937264144384 Clearly, folks on Twitter never caught a fish in their life... And while the heavy sushi and sashimi demand has drastically reduced the population of Atlantic bluefin tuna (some of these bad boys can fetch over a million dollars per fish), populations have been rising in recent years thanks to conservation efforts. In fact, according to national Geographic, the Atlantic bluefin tuna has been removed from the endangered species list. Helluva catch Michelle.

Split Jaw Crocodile Chows Down On Horseshoe Crab In Florida

There is a lot going on in this video... First, everyone knows there's a lot of alligators in Florida, but did you know there's also crocodiles? Florida has a native population of American crocodiles which are mainly found in the deep southern regions of the state such as the Everglades, but have been spotted as far North as Tampa, which is near the midpoint. Naturally, their population suffered like many native species with the influx of people in the 60's and 70's, but the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates a current population of around 2,000, up from just a few hundred in 1975. Second, you know those stringray looking things that wash up on beaches? They're actually horseshoe crabs, which have been living on this earth since before the dinosaurs... https://twitter.com/NOAAeducation/status/1780218252485865880 So this video has two creatures that have been living on this earth for millions of years? Sign me up. But if you thought that was all, prepare for one more shock as the crocodile in question here had quite an injury, which may explain why it started chowing down on crabs instead of something a bit bigger. The crocodile's bottom jaw is completely split in two and it's really wild to see. Both sides flapping around as it tries to crack the hard shell and get to the meat in side. It's yet another example of animals being significantly tougher than us measly humans... Despite the advantage the crab had due to the injury, it still got absolutely squashed by the powerful jaws of the croc, a battle its type has been losing for a long, long time. It's a short clip but man is it just so impressive to watch. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C59-qHtOGJp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link