Caught on camera: Cannibal croc slam dunks rival before tearing it apart

Tourist Sandra Bell was poised to photograph a sedate scene of two crocodiles sunning themselves at the edge of a waterhole when the picture unexpectedly exploded into violence. She was startled but managed to snap about 20 graphic photos as a 5m (16ft) estuarine croc tore apart and devoured a far lighter 2.5m (8ft) croc over 15 minutes. Without warning, the large croc suddenly clamped its jaws around the other’s tail and flung the smaller croc’s entire body repeatedly through the air and into the water. “It was super amazing but pretty terrifying as well,” Bell said on Friday. “It looked like it was pretty much dead pretty quickly.”

I had no idea how forceful and powerful it was. There were waves and splashes going everywhere and you could hear the little one getting thumped into the water.

Sandra Bell

The extraordinary pictures were taken on Oct. 26 at Catfish Waterhole in the Rinyirru National Park, where Bell had been camping with her 14-year-old son in north Queensland state. The mother and son, from Shark Bay in Western Australia, were on a year-long vacation driving around the country. Crocodile expert Grahame Webb said the pale color of the smaller creature in some photos suggested it might have been dead before it was eaten by its rival. He said the violent throwing of the smaller croc was an attempt to tear away body parts to swallow. Cannibalism was common among crocs although humans rarely witnessed such attacks in the Australian wilderness, Mr Webb added.

Once a croc gets to one to two years old, its survival depends on how many big crocs are around

Crocodile expert Grahame Webb

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