These incredible images capture the ᴛᴇʀʀɪғʏing moment a cannibal crocodile consumes one of its own, swallowing it whole in a ᴛᴇʀʀɪғʏing display of its predatory impulses. Unbelievably, the innocent baby crocodile got caught in the enormous maw of its senior who rapidly clamped shut its jaws and swallowed it.
Tanja Merensky-Hartinger, a photographer, captured the ʙʟᴏᴏᴅthirsty images at the Sweni Bird Hide in Sᴏᴜᴛʜ Aғʀɪᴄᴀ’s Kruger National Park. The 32-year-old claimed that when he saw this, he was astounded.
This type of behavior is soᴍᴇᴛʜing he had never seen before. Later, he talked to some experienced professional guides who had spent a lot of time in the African wilderness, they had never seen anything like this, too.
For energy efficiency, adult crocodiles prefer to consume larger prey, therefore they rarely go after such little prey. Their prey are larger mammals, yet they occasionally consume fish, birds, or reptiles because they are opportunistic predators. Very seldom, crocodiles engage in cannibalism and devour one another. When there is no competition for food or prey, they act in this way in order to survive.
The saltwater crocodile, a relative of the nile crocodile, is the second-largest reptile in the world and is common in Kruger National Park. The enormous animals, which are widespread across most of central, eastern, western, and southern Africa, have been reported to reach lengths of up to 20 feet.