Reader Merilee called my attention to this video on Facebook, showing what appears to be a jaguar catching a crocodile. The cat simply leaps into the water and snags the beast, dragging it away for lunch. What an amazing feat, and what a brave cat!
Click on the screenshot to see the 44-second clip:
I wonder if it tasted like chicken.
WoW! Hungry kitty.
I can see my childhood kitty in that kill. She used to bring me lizards.
It’s a caiman, not a crocodile. From the spots on the caiman’s lower jaw, I’d guess it’s specifically a yacare (or jacare), from the southern Brazil to northern Argentina area. Readers may recall the earlier jaguar on caiman predation we recorded here at WEIT. The previous one was (just!) from a set of great photos. The behavior in the video is amazing– the cat diving fully into the water– and it’s amazing the cat paid no attention to the videographer (who seems to have been on a tour boat).
You can find video of that one on YouTube. Just search jaguar vs caiman.
Maybe the jaguars are used to tour boats and know that they can be safely ignored.
cr
I remembered that 🙂
I remember that post as well – the jaguar (jagyooar as D. Attenborough says) swimming stealthily out to take the caiman off a sand bar. I too find it amazing that in this latest vid the cat dives under water fully to get the caiman and comes out a ways downstream!
Like tigers jaguars are also known for their ease and even fondness for swimming. There is a particular video clip, that was popular for awhile, of a jaguar at a zoo swimming underwater in a large water habitat. I think Jerry may have even posted it here on WEIT.
Attenborough’s pronunciation is entirely correct. Everyone in England knows how to say ‘Jaguar’ and has done since William Lyons started making them in 1935. A few of the more esoterically inclined know that it also refers to a large cat.
😉
cr
+1!
And Tigger- or is it Pooh?- says “jagular”:-)
sub
🐊
Yikes. That was brutal and yet graceful and efficiently done. This is what we expect from our kittehs.
Wow! That was so cool!
Reblogged this on aspiblog and commented:
This is a seriously cool video of a jaguar securing itself a large meal (btw contrary to WEIT’s title the creature is actually a caiman – a crocodile relative which sometimes grows to huge sizes)
Super video – have just posted a link to it on my own blog.
Very powerful, it appears it bites the caiman straight through the skull. Different technique from the great African cats here who rather strangle..
Biting through the skull of their prey is apparently a standard tactic for jaguars. They have notably stouter incisors and bite force compared to similar size cats of other species.