These pictures, taken by photographer Luiz Claudio in Brazil, show the spectacular hunting scene of a jaguar.
Luiz Claudio said he started photographing the jaguar while it was leisurely looking for a place to “refresh” by the river.
But not long after, the jaguar stopped drinking and stared down at the calm river. It seemed to have seen a fat prey swimming in the murky water.
Fast as a cut, the jaguar plunged into the river and used its sharp teeth to attack the crocodile.
The crocodile tried to flail around but failed. After killing the prey, the leopard drags the crocodile ashore to eat.
The jaguar is the third largest feline creature in the world after tigers and lions. Each individual can weigh up to 136kg. The jungle environment in South America is known as a “supermarket or restaurant for them to find food”.
Gregory and Winter track down a jaguar named Scarface. The animal can be easily recognized by the old wound on the body.
In the video, the viewer looks like the camera lens is pointed at a rock, but it is actually the head of a caiman crocodile.
Winter and Gregory are two people who have a great passion for animals and are also very patient. They silently followed the jaguar Scarface to the swamp, where it looked for an opportunity to hunt crocodiles.
The Scarface jaguar is a seasoned hunter, but not always successful. “Even the best predators fail sometimes, it’s been almost a week since Scarface had a hearty meal,” Winter said.
Hunger made Scarface not want to play stalking for long. Suddenly, it plunged straight into the water, grabbed a caiman weighing 60kg and dragged it ashore, looking for bushes to eat.
In the Natioanl Geographic series, the jaguar successfully selects prey of modest size. But what if the jaguar encounters a giant alligator that is normally four times the size of a caiman?
In a survey on the website Carnivora, 59% believe that jaguars can defeat giant crocodiles on land and crocodiles easily eat jaguars in the water. 31% believe that crocodiles can defeat jaguars both on land and in water.