It was one of the most astonishing battles in the animal world – when a snake decided it was going to swallow a whole crocodile for lunch.
If it seems an impossible notion, these photos show the astonishing result as the snake slithered slowly away with the crocodile filling its body.
Local woman Tiffany Corlis saw the snake, a python, heading towards the freshwater crocodile on the edge of Lake Moondarra, some 12 miles north east of Mount Isa, in outback Queensland, reported the ABC.
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The python wrestle the six-foot freshwater crocodile at Lake Moondarra, 12 miles north east of Mount Isa, in outback Queensland
With lightning speed it suddenly wrapped itself around the crocodile and put it in a death squeeze.
No matter how much the crocodile struggled, it had no hope of freeing itself from the snake’s powerful body.
It wasn’t long before life was squeezed out of the croc.
Wisely deciding not to intervene, Ms Corlis quietly took photographs of the rare event as the snake turned to the object of the attack and began slowly consuming the reptile.
That seemingly impossible task took a little more time but eventually the entire crocodile disappeared through the python’s mouth.
Then, twice its normal size, the snake slowly made its way into the nearby swamp bushes to digest its hearty meal.
Try as it might, once the crocodile was caught in the python’s death grip, it could not fight its way free
Once the snake had killed the crocodile, it proceeded to swallow it whole
Once the snake had devoured the crocodile it slithered off, double its original size, to digest the croc in peace