The eagle swooped on the baby reptile as it made its way along a riverbank on the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania
There is nothing worse than being interrupted as you are about to tuck into a tasty meal.
This baby crocodile had a particularly nasty surprise after capturing a juicy fish for a snack, only to become lunch for a powerful fish eagle in hot pursuit.
The predator became the prey as the eagle – which normally dines on fish and small mammals – swooped in and snatched the young Nile crocodile, before soaring off with the reptile trapped in its sharp claws.
It’s behind you: The baby crocodile makes its way along the riverbank with a fish in its jaws – apparently unaware of the powerful eagle in pursuit
Mark Sheridan-Johnson, who captured the scene on the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, said it was the first time he had seen an eagle snatch a crocodile in his nine years as a safari guide.
Mr Sheridan-Johnson, 32, who was raised in Tanzania but whose parents come from Newcastle, snapped the photographs on his day off.
‘I didn’t have any clients to take out that day so I was driving in my land cruiser looking for interesting wildlife to photograph,’ he said.
‘I saw the fish eagle on the sand bank with something in its beak.
‘I noticed it wasn’t a fish but was in fact a Nile crocodile. The eagle quickly took off but I got a couple of shots of it flying away.’
Predator becomes the prey: The eagle swooped in, grasped the baby crocodile in its sharp claws and took flight
The fish eagle snatched the young Nile crocodile from a riverbank on the Selous Game Reserve in the south of Tanzania
The safari guide said he suspected the bird was a lone individual that had learned how to hunt for crocodiles.
‘It certainly knew what it was doing,’ he said.
When fully grown, Nile crocodiles are fearsome predators known to feed on gazelles, antelope, wildebeest, zebras and even young elephants.
But this juvenile croc was no match for the swift eagle, which wasted no time in carrying the young reptile off for its lunch.
Safari guide Mark Sheridan-Johnson initially thought the eagle had captured a fish, then realised it was a baby crocodile clenched in the bird’s sharp claws
African fish eagles – which have a wing span of up to 8ft – perch in trees and scan areas for potential prey – typically fish. The powerful birds then swoop in and snatch their prey, before returning to the perch to eat the catch