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A crocodile with a shark in its mouth. credit: Paul van Bruggen

The lost this battle. credit: Paul van Bruggen

NORTHERN TERRITORY, Australia -- There'S no need to be scared of sharks when you're in the Territory -- the crocs usually get to them first.

Paul van Bruggen snapped these amazing pictures of a 2.5m saltie dining out on a shark on the banks of the Daly River.

"We went past one section of the river and we heard some splashing," he said.

"We looked across and saw a shark's tail coming up out of the water and then a crocodile's head came up and grabbed it." Mr van Bruggen said the crocodile knew exactly what it was doing, dragging the shark on to unfamiliar dry land before finishing off its prey.

"How smart is the crocodile? It if was you or me it would be dragging you in to drown you, but it takes the shark up on dry land," he said.

The fisherman, who was on the Daly River last Friday for the Barra Classic, said thecrocodile definitely wanted shark for dinner.

"We were about 15 metres away and it didn't bat an eyelid," he said.

Reader Comments

9 people have commented so far. add your comment

I wonder who would win if the shark was the same size as the croc. In this case, the shark looks to be about 1.5 meters long, if that. This is the same battle of boyhood wonders such as an equal sized lion verses tiger, leopard verses jaguar, grizzly bear verses polar bear, white shark verses tiger shark. Great pics. Kevin Host, Shark Conspiracies sharkconspiracies.net
     - Kevin · Agoura Hills, CA · May 24, 2008 @ 9:07am

With animals of the same size it could go either way...I think the shark here is a bull shark. Adult bulls sharks and tiger sharks have been found with crocodile remains in them. A large crocodile could find in hard to clamp down on a large powerful shark but it would'nt be impossible for them to take one out.
     - Jerry Conway · Bournemouth UK · May 26, 2008 @ 4:51am

The Shark does have the advantage of both land and sea. Even if facing a shark of equal size, it can attack or escape from two different fronts.
     - John · Lafayette US · May 28, 2008 @ 7:02am

I think the croc was very intelligent to have got the shark on land to suffocate it. Poor shark though he didn't have a chance in hell. If that shark were bigger and killed the croc i would have said the same thing about the croc. This croc must have killed sharks before to have been able to do it again easily. I would love to see this myself one day even though i love sharks. Oh, i almost forgot... SAVE THE SHARKS!! :)
     - Anne Marie · Wadesville, IN USA · Jun 14, 2008 @ 3:37pm

I almost couldn't imagine a shark that small trying to even attempt to eat the crocodile. I imagine it would be really difficult to get a shark and crocodile of the same size to want to kill each other for food.
     - Alex · Honolulu, HI · Aug 2, 2008 @ 6:53pm

how did the croc get the shark,when the shark lives in salt water and the croc dosn't?
     - destiny · n.c. · Sep 30, 2008 @ 2:36pm

The crocodile which you see in the the picture with the shark in it's mouth is the saltwater crocodile which is the world's largest living reptile and can reach lenghts of 25ft plus is equally home in both fresh and saltwater including the open ocean and the pelagic zone.
     - gooch515@gmail.c · india · Oct 13, 2008 @ 9:58am

I must say that you are very fortunate to have seen this happen... Nature is indeed amazing.... Which of the two species is faster in the water tho?
     - Omer abderoof · South Arica · Nov 11, 2008 @ 11:13pm

There was a recent battle with a 23ft salt water croc and a 23ft great white. The shark was nearly twice the crocs weight. The croc had the initial advantage, however had to surface for air when the shark missing a pectoral fin the croc had bitten off attacked from below and bit through the crocs soft underbody. This happened up the top end (Northern Territory).
     - Wayne SHAW · AUSTRALIA · Apr 20, 2009 @ 7:23pm