10-year-old Florida girl Juliana Ossa fights Alligator

We’re not sure if grace under pressure is actually something that can be taught, but even if it is, that’s one class that Florida girl Juliana Ossa doesn’t have to attend.

While swimming in two feet of water at Orlando’s Moss Park over the weekend, the 10-year-old girl exerted Zen-like calm when she was attacked by a nine-foot alligator. Instead of panicking after the gator latched onto her leg and wouldn’t let go, Ossa thought back to a lesson she’d learned during a visit at nearby Gatorland.

“I put my two fingers up its nostrils and it couldn’t breathe and had to breathe from its mouth and then let my leg out,” she told Inside Edition. “The gator didn’t do anything because he was too busy biting my leg and too busy with his claws in the sand. He didn’t have any attack moves to take out my fingers.” `

Thanks to her cool head and fast fingers, Ossa escaped with injuries to the front of her knee and the back of her lower thigh that were treated by paramedics and then stitched up at a hospital. After hearing about the attack on Ossal, Gatorland wished her well and shared some more tips.

Use ‘em or lose ‘em … your appendages, that is.

Meet your guide

Evan Bleier

Evan is a senior editor with InsideHook who earned a master’s degree in journalism from NYU and has called Brooklyn home since 2006. A fan of Boston sports, Nashville hot chicken and Kentucky bourbon, Evan has had his work published in publications including “Maxim,” Bleacher Report and “The Daily Mail.”