In the waterways of the Serengeti, crocodiles and hippos are the biggest and toughest creatures around. Though they’re better off avoiding each other most of the time, circumstances often bring the species together – and the results can be pretty dramatic.
This intense footage was taken by Harish Kumar while on a holiday trip in Tanzania. “Our guide took us out on a drive to a place called Hippo Pool,” he told Latest Sightings.
According to Kumar, his wife was the first to spot the watery commotion, and he didn’t even have time to set up the tripod for his camera, shooting the video by hand instead.
While the title of the video references “30-plus hippos”, it looks like there are at least 50 individuals in this pod. Exactly how the unfortunate croc ended up in the middle isn’t clear – but the big mammals were certainly not happy about it. The interloper receives some fierce head-butting and chomping, while a number of hippos grunt and snort their displeasure from afar.
At one point, the croc finds itself out of the water entirely, on the back of one hippo and in the jaws of another, before finally managing to escape.
“Luck was absolutely on my side as I was able to stand with my camera in the right place to film. This was just an unbelievable sighting,” says Kumar.
Hippo-croc altercations are not uncommon. And sometimes, the tables turn in favour of the reptiles: just check out this crocodilian feast. The two species have even been known to fight over food.