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.
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.’
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.