At first, you might think that Croc vs. Shark is just something that gets discussed in the writers’ rooms at SyFy. But there are some places in the world where crocs and sharks do swim the same waters. Like in Australia.
Brutus, the 18-foot local celebrity (who, according to legend, lost his front arm to a shark) is a saltwater crocodile, or saltie, which means he can survive both in fresh and in salt water, and in the brackish waters where the two meet. The massive species is also the largest living reptile on the planet. Likewise, bull sharks can also survive in fresh water. So it’s not quite so unusual for the two to have met.
At Earth Touch News, Sarah Keartes has the back story:
Sydney photographer Andrew Paice was on a tour with his family on Australia’s Adelaide River on Tuesday when he saw an 80-year-old saltwater crocodile (locally known as Brutus) with a juvenile bull shark clenched between its jaws.
“We’d fed Brutus on the bank earlier and were coming back past,” Paice tells Northern Territory News. “[We] saw something in his mouth … Brutus took the shark back into the water and then started to shake it around a bit, [then headed] back into the mangroves like he was protecting his prey.”
Salt-water crocodile catches & eats bull shark in brutal NT wildlife encounter: http://t.co/MyPDr4ufkh Photo: A Paice pic.twitter.com/jfAujGAWXa
— Wildlife Land Trust (@wlt_au) August 6, 2014
Crocodile vs shark: Tourists capture astonishing photos in the NT http://t.co/RGa79NO1S7 pic.twitter.com/vAFGXUM2K7
— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) August 6, 2014
Jaws v Claws. Claws wins. http://t.co/fhyD5Tv8YV pic.twitter.com/64YcrbpJwe
— Barney Henderson (@barneyhenderson) August 6, 2014
Australians have no problems weathering a #Sharknado: All hail this 18ft saltwater crocodile!! http://t.co/OUgxV4MAXb pic.twitter.com/PpzYy6pCFT
— BuzzFeed Australia (@BuzzFeedOz) August 6, 2014
Why turn to the ridiculous tales spun by Shark Week when there’s real drama unfolding in the natural world?
Related:
https://gizmodo.com/ready-for-some-croc-on-croc-violence-cretaceous-crocs-1574127221
Header photo: AngMoKio/Wikiemdia Commons