Cannibal crocodile snapped in Australian park, shocking tourists who thought it was dead

Tourist Sandra Bell was poised to photograph a sedate scene of two crocodiles sunning themselves at the edge of an Australian waterhole when the picture unexpectedly exploded into violence.

Bell was startled but managed to snap around 20 graphic photos as a 5-meter (16-foot) estuarine croc tore apart and devoured a far lighter 2.5-meter (8-foot) croc over 15 minutes.

“It was super amazing but pretty terrifying as well,” Bell said on Friday. “It looked like it was pretty much dead pretty quickly.”

‘Long dead’

She later said an expert's opinion that the croc appeared long dead before the attack could be correct. Bell said she didn't detect much movement when she first saw the smaller croc partially submerged.

The extraordinary pictures were taken on Oct. 26 at Catfish Waterhole in the Rinyirru National Park, where Bell had been camping with her 14-year-old son in the north of the state of Queensland.

The mother and son, from Shark Bay in Western Australia, were on a yearlong vacation driving around the country.

Jaws clamped

Suddenly, the large croc clamped its jaws around the other's tail and flung the smaller croc's entire body repeatedly through the air and into the water.