A young girl has been filmed swinging from a rope and landing in the water just inches away from an alligator - which she knew was there.

Girl swims with alligator

Girl swims with alligator

The footage - which was uploaded on YouTube last year - recently caused a debate on Facebook due to the calmness of onlookers and the family of the young girl who all knew the alligator was in the water, the Mirror Online reported.

In the video, the girl swims in the water metres away from the reptile and a man is also seen - who is believed to be her father - dangling his foot above its enormous jaws.

An older girl, who is sat in a tree, shouts down and said she is going to jump in.

She is seen grabbing a rope and swinging over the water before landing in, narrowly missing the alligator.

Her dad is heard saying: ''That's kinda close.''

The girl turns and swims on her back, facing the alligator as she reaches the shoreline and the reptile is seen swimming away.

The footage - which appears to have been shot in Florida - has caused outrage on social media after it was reuploaded onto Facebook.