Watch the sighting here:
Lean van Biljon and colleagues watched from Crook’s Corner viewpoint, where South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet. Van Biljon recorded the incident and sent his account to Latest Sightings.
Thirsty cattle
Said Lean, “We noticed a herd of cattle walking… towards a waterhole. The crocodiles reacted immediately and started swimming towards the herd.”
Snatched!
He continued, “A late arrival entered the space and within seconds after she started drinking water, a crocodile caught the cow!”
In typical fashion, the large crocodile pulled its prey into deeper water while the rest of the herd fled.
Commotion
Meanwhile, numerous other crocodiles, attracted by the splashing and commotion, began to converge on the scene.
After several seconds completely submerged, first the cow’s horns and then head rose above the surface. In the background, the remaining cattle watched impassively.
New arrival
Subsequently, as the crocs dragged the carcass into deeper water, the arrival of an unexpected newcomer marked the start of the drama’s second act.
The crocodiles share this water with a raft of hippos, and one of them approached to investigate.
Not impressed
As the crocs began to tear the cow apart, the hippo made its displeasure known with a threatening gape display.
Crocodiles and hippos share an uneasy truce in shared waters. However, highly territorial hippos will be quick to let their neighbours know when their behaviour is out of line.
Accordingly, it wasn’t long before more hippos arrived. Another little-known fact about hippos is that from time to time, they eat meat.
As the hippos got right in amongst the crocs, their aggression was obvious as they splashed about.
Using their hefty bulk, the hippos manage to disrupt proceedings, even chasing the crocodiles. As Van Biljon said, it wasn’t clear whether they were trying to rescue the cow or claim it for themselves.
Hostile takeover
In the above image, one of the crocs is seen performing a death roll. This is when they tear chunks of flesh from large prey by rolling their bodies in the water.
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Eventually, after a period of aggressive posturing, the hippos took control of the carcass.
Third act
As if all this action were not enough, a third actor arrived to add to the drama. Van Biljon said that amid all the other action, he noticed a lot of fish activity — presumably catfish feeding on scrap of flesh.
Consequently, this attracted the attention of a couple of fish eagles. After a couple of passes, one of the eagles swooped in.
To the spectator’s delight, it rose from the surface with a large fish clutched in its talons.
In conclusion, Van Biljon said, “They say in nature, for one to live, another has to die. To see each of these interactions on their own would have been rare, but to see all at once within 30 minutes, was once in a lifetime! We are privileged to live in South Africa!”
And he’s quite right. What started as a tranquil pitstop by the water evolved into thirty minutes of back-to-back action. Ample reason to stop occasionally and see what unfolds around you.