Shocking footage has captured the moment a vicious jaguar sunk its teeth into an unsuspecting caiman after wrestling the reptile from a river bank in Brazil.
The clip, filmed in the Pantanal, shows a big cat nicknamed Mick Jaguar as he heaves the 80lbs caiman from a nearby river bank with apparent ease.
The jaguar, who has become famed for hunting reptiles, releases the crocodile in a patch of grass for a moment of rest, which his prey takes as an opportunity to escape.
But his bid for freedom is short-lived, and Mick pounces on the fleeing caiman yet again, sinking his teeth into the animal’s neck before dragging it away into the marshland.
The newly shared footage was captured by Abigail Martin, 30, from New York, who founded the non-profit Jaguar Identification Project.
Shocking footage has captured the moment a vicious jaguar sunk its teeth into an unsuspecting caiman after wrestling the reptile from a river bank in Brazil
The organisation aims to construct a database of individual jaguars in order to better understand their behaviours.
She captured the intense battle in April near Pantanal in Brazil, which is home to the highest density of jaguars in the world.
‘The jaguar in the video is known as Mick Jaguar,’ Ms Martin said. ‘He is a super famous jaguar known for killing massive caiman in front of as many tourists as possible.
The clip, filmed in the Pantanal, Brazil, shows a big cat nicknamed Mick Jaguar as he heaves the 80lbs caiman from a nearby river bank with apparent ease
The jaguar, who has become famed for hunting reptiles, releases the crocodile in a patch of grass for a moment of rest, which his prey takes as an opportunity to escape
But his bid for freedom is short-lived, and Mick pounces on the fleeing crocodile yet again, sinking his teeth into the animal’s neck before dragging it away into the marshland
‘The caiman made its last attempt in trying to escape but Mick did let him slip away and this time made a lethal bite and dragged him into the bushes.
Abigail Martin captured the intense battle in April near Pantanal in Brazil, which is home to the highest density of jaguars in the world