Shocking moment giant crocodile swallows shark

A photographer in Australia captured the shocking moment a giant crocodile swallowed a shark.

Research scientist and photographer Mark Ziembicki, 46, captured remarkable photos during his recent visit to the east coast of Australia.

In one of the pictures, the 680-kilogramme Nile crocodile can be seen closing in on the 45-kilogramme bull shark pup with its mouth wide open. Another photo shows the crocodile managing to catch the shark in its jaws.

Mark said that there were two reasons for the freshwater species to have washed downriver and into saline coastal waters – the recent opening of St Lucia estuary and excessive rainfall inland.

He had been watching the two animals in the area for a few hours.

“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 eating a shark. We turned to see the shark thrashing away in the crocodile’s mouth.” Mark recalled.

“It spent about ten 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. We had our answer I guess, although obviously there was a size mis-match on this occasion.”