by Extraordinary pictures have captured the moment an enormous 1,500lb crocodile consumed a bull-shark in just one mouthful.
Taken along the east coast of Australia, the crocodile can be seen approaching and then ᴅᴇᴠᴏᴜʀɪɴɢ its ᴘʀᴇʏ in an unlikely meeting of two apex ᴘʀᴇᴅᴀᴛᴏʀs.
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 ꜰᴇᴀsᴛ on its prey.
The reptile was pictured in a second image with the shark upside down between its jaws, unable to ᴇsᴄᴀᴘᴇ its grim fate.
Crocodiles are known for having the most powerful bite in the animal kingdom, with some species able to exert a force eight times greater than that of a great white shark.
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.
Ziembicki explained that he’d been watching the two animals in the area for several hours, and had been curious to see what would happen if they stumbled across each other.
He recalled: “While we were busy taking photos of another crocodile on the bank there was some commotion about one-hundred feet away. A local resident of the area who was also there, shouted there was a croc ᴇᴀᴛɪɴɢ a shark. We turned to see the shark thrashing away in the crocodile’s mouth.”
According to Ziembicki, there were two reasons why the freshwater species had been washed downriver and into saline coastal waters. He credited the recent opening of St Lucia estuary and excessive rainfall inland, saying these factors led to the unlikely meeting of the two apex ᴘʀᴇᴅᴀᴛᴏʀs.
Ziembicki was able to capture the ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ, which happened just 60 feet away from where he was standing, using a Canon 5D SLR camera with a 300mm lens.
“It spent about 10 minutes with the shark in its jaws, tossing it about. The shark gradually moved less until it was eventually sᴡᴀʟʟᴏᴡᴇᴅ whole headfirst. We were completely taken by surprise.”
