This is the moment a bullying hippo tossed a small calf into the air as if it were a doll.
The shocking pictures were taken by an amateur photographer in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa, two weeks ago.
The helpless five-day old baby is seen being thrown in to the air as its mother tries desperately to save it.
Two male hippos had been been fighting each other at the time so the mother of the newborn thought it would be safer to stay away. But the decision proved fatal for the baby when a sub-adult hippo grabbed the calf.
Stacey Farrell, a 30-year-old tour operator for Shoreline Hippo and Safari, who witnessed the incident, said: “For hours she chased away the sub adults and younger hippos from her little baby as I believe she knew they would be too rough.
“Sadly, as she closed her eye one of the sub adult hippos grabbed the young calf. Whether intending to kill it or a bit of play or possibly jealousy gone wrong we’ll never know.
“The mother tried to get the baby back but with the young calf in the sub adults mouth there wasn’t much she could do.
“She attacked the hippo on the neck which forced the sub adult to bite down harder and then suddenly flicked the baby in the air.”
Sadly, the newborn hippo died of its injuries just a few hours later.