Herds of zebras rushed into the water to begin their journey across the river without knowing the 4.9 m long crocodile was waiting. The 200 kg zebra fell victim when the crocodile suddenly jumped up and grabbed its stomach. In one photo, the crocodile struggles to swallow the rest of its prey, leaving only a horseshoe protruding from its mouth. The scene was captured by American amateur photographer Dennis Stogsdill during a trip to the Mara Triangle, an area southwest of the Masai Mara reserve, Kenya.
“Big crocodiles like this in the Mara River can kill their prey in an instant. They grab their prey and immediately drag it into the water. Since there aren’t many animals crossing the river here, the crocodiles are starving. As soon as there was movement, they immediately swam in. From the time the hunt started to the end it was probably only about 40-45 minutes. After the crocodile killed the zebra, other crocodiles surrounded and trying to compete for food. A fight broke out between them, “Dennis recounted. When taking pictures, Dennis was only about 26 meters away from them.
African crocodiles can reach a maximum size of 6 m and weigh 748 kg. They live in sub-Saharan Africa, the Nile basin and Madagascar, in rivers and streams, freshwater marshes and mangroves. They mainly feed on fish, but will attack any animal that passes by, including zebras, small hippos, porcupines, birds and other crocodiles.
