Remarkable pictures show the 1,500-pound crocodile rising up and sinking its jaws into the 100-pound baby bull shark during the horrifying encounter in the east of Australia.
An enormous 1500-pound crocodile has been filmed eating a shark in North Queensland, Australia as heavy rainfall pushed the two apex predators into sharing territory.
In one photo, the crocodile could be seen closing in on the 100-pound bull shark pup with its huge mouth open wide, ready to feast on its prey. Research scientist Mark Ziembicki claimed he saw the crocodile “swallow the shark whole headfirst”.
The reptile was pictured in a second image with the shark upside down between its jaws, unable to escape its grim fate.
This once in a lifetime moment was captured by research scientist and photographer Mark Ziembicki, 46, from North Queensland, Australia, during a visit to the east coast of Australia.
According to Mr Ziembicki, the combination of the recent opening of the St Lucia estuary and excessive rainfall inland caused freshwater species to be washed downriver into saline coastal waters, leading to the unlikely meeting between the two apex predators, which happened just 60 feet away from where Mr Ziembicki was standing.
Mr Ziembicki captured the images using a Canon 5D SLR camera with a 300mm lens.
“While we were busy taking photos of another crocodile on the bank there was some commotion about one-hundred feet away,” he said.
“A local resident of the area who was also there shouted that there was a croc eating a shark. We turned to see the shark thrashing away in the crocodile’s mouth.
“It spent about 10 minutes with the shark in its jaws, tossing it about. The shark gradually moved less until it was eventually swallowed whole headfirst. We were completely taken by surprise.
“We’d been observing both the crocodiles and sharks in the area for several hours and were wondering what would happen if the two might meet.”
He added: “We had our answer I guess, although obviously there was a size mismatch on this occasion.”
Crocodiles have the most powerful bite in the animal kingdom, exerting a force eight times greater than that of a great white shark.
It comes after a group of stunned fishermen captured the moment a huge crocodile snatched a shark away from their boat.
Geoff Trutwein and Nat Barnes had just caught the juvenile blacktip shark near Wyndham, Western Australia when a 2.5-metre-long saltwater crocodile appeared and wrestled it away from them.
Cameraman Geoff, from Kununurra, Western Australia, said the huge reptiles “aren’t timid of people” and they had to be careful as they can “eat you”.
“I’ve been photographing wildlife for 30 years and I’ve seen the crocs around here a lot in my life but I’ve never had an interaction like this,” he said.
“It was shocking. It was just incredible to see something so powerful up close and personal.
“This one was only young but it was still about 2.5 metres in length. I got as close to the side of the boat as I was willing to get as I didn’t fancy losing my fingers.”
This article by Tom Watling was first published by The Express on 2 June 2023. Lead Image: Pictures show the humongous crocodile swallowing a baby bull shark whole (Image: Mediadrumimages/Mark Ziembicki).
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