Group of friends discover they had been swimming for hours with a 6.5 FOOT ALLIGATOR

This is the terrifying moment a group of friends swimming in a lake realised they were sharing the space - with a six-and-a-half foot alligator.

Adelisa, 22, had been boating, swimming and sunbathing with her friends for six hours on Lake Livingstone, Texas, USA, when she spotted the reptile.

The group, spending the weekend at an Airbnb on the shore, checked with the neighbours, and the the Airbnb owner, to ensure the lake was safe and were told it was safe.

She said: "The Airbnb that we rented said there were no alligators because they can’t get in, when in reality they can, but they will just struggle getting out due to the edges of the lake.

"I asked the neighbour of the place we stayed in if he knew alligators were there and he had a worried look on his face and shook his head and said 'no'."

The group got into the lake at around 10am and had been swimming and relaxing on floaties until Adelisa spotted the creature at around 5:40pm, when her friends where in the water.

She added: "We were actually making another Instagram reel on the porch!

"I turned around to see if we could maybe find a place to put the phone where the view would be nice

"Instead I saw something in a shape of log, then it disappeared. I knew it was an alligator immediately after!"

Adelisa believes that the animal is being fed from the dock they were swimming on, and had approached them with that intent.

She said: "We think that someone feeds it near the dock we stayed at. It was just cruising around near our dock, but then left."