Eagle Snatches Crocodile From Riverbank captured By a Wildlife guide

A fish eagle snatches a young Nile crocodile in Selous Game reserve, Tanzania

The moment an eagle snatched a crocodile from a river bank has been captured by a British wildlife guide.

A baby crocodile, which when fully grown would expect to be top of the food chain, has become lunch for a hungry bird.

In the rare example of one top predator eating rival of another species the fish eagle, which usually eats birds and small mammals, grabbed the hapless Nile crocodile in its sharp claws before flying away.

Safari guide Mark Sheridan-Johnson, 32, who was raised in Tanzania but whose parents come from Newcastle, captured the sequence of images on his day off from showing tourists one of the wonders of his adopted homeland, the Selous Game Reserve.

"I didn’t have any clients to take out that day so I was driving in my land cruiser looking for interesting wildlife to photograph," Mr Sheridan-Johnson said.

"In nine years of being a safari guide I would never expect to see this unheard of behaviour.

"I saw the fish eagle on the sand bank with something in its beak.

"I noticed it wasn’t a fish but was in fact a Nile crocodile. The eagle quickly took off but I got a couple of shots of it flying away.

"I think this eagle could be a lone individual who has learnt how to hunt for crocodiles.

"It certainly knew what it was doing."

Photo: Mark Sheridan-Johnson / Barcroft

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