These snaps show how an unlucky toucan was gobbled up by a caiman when it went to drink water from a river.
Tour guide and photographer Edir Alves captured the images on the Miranda River in Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul state, west-central Brazil.
He said: “Law of nature, every care taken is still too little for predators on duty!”
Edir revealed that he caught the moment during a speedboat ride on the river with other tourists on 28th May, with the images doing the rounds more recently.
(@EDIRALVES, @fazendasanfrancisco/Newsflash)
Having worked for nine years in ecotourism, he said the occurrence was “rare”.
Edir said: “Caimans basically prey on fish, so this is very unusual. Very unlucky of the toucan to try to quench its thirst right where the caiman was.
“It’s really difficult to get a photo of a toucan drinking water as shown in the image, and to see the caiman preying on it and capture the scene is even rarer.”
Because of its huge, yellow-orange bill, the unfortunate bird looks to be a toco toucan (Ramphastos toco).
The species is categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as one of least concern, meaning it is still plentiful in the wild.
All extant caiman species are also categorised as of least concern, apart from the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), which is conservation dependent.
This black caiman, however, is not present in Mato Grosso do Sul state.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
