his is the shocking moment a crocodile tries to devour another helpless croc.
Photographer Anne-Marie Scheepers, 52, took the pictures while visiting Kruger National Park in South Africa.
The photos show a crocodile clamping its teeth down and shaking the smaller croc.
The attack happened over the space of two hours.
Scheepers, from Johannesburg, said she was on an eight-day trip to Skukuza, the main camp in Kruger, where they stayed in the camping area.
She said: ‘As we were on our way from Lower-Sable, passing Sunset Dam, I noticed something strange and asked my friend if he would reverse so I could look again.
‘I saw the crocodile with another crocodile in its mouth and at first, thought it was part of a mating ritual.
‘But when I looked through the lens, I saw the blood on the big croc’s teeth.
‘It became clear to us that this was no mating ritual, but rather an attack.’
She said the big crocodile started to do the death roll in the water, with the small croc ‘still alive fighting bravely’.
‘We could see the small croc opening and slowly closing its mouth while moving its tail,’ Scheepers added.
The big croc then emerged from the water and repeatedly shook the little one every 10 to 15 minutes.
‘It was clear to me that the little one was still alive because he opened and closed his mouth and eyes and was shaking his tail at the end,’ Scheepers said.
The Nile crocodile, which inhabits sub-Saharan Africa, can reach a maximum size of about 20 feet and can weigh up to 1,650 pounds.
Adults eat fish, amphibians and reptiles, but can potentially kill a wide range of large vertebrates, including antelope, buffalo, young hippos and large cats.
This article by James Callery was first published by The Daily Mail on 30 December 2022. Lead Image: Photographer Anne-Marie Scheepers, 52, took the pictures while visiting the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
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