For a crocodile in this case, the temperature of the pool can be a deadly problem. For most species it should be between 20-38°C. The white shark, as a likely victim, he will ignore, as he chooses the animal with which he can somehow cope. And he lives in fresh water (although there are species that can tolerate salt water).

The white shark, on the other hand, lives in the salt water of the ocean and coastal waters. And the temperature of its range is much lower - 12-24 °C. In general, the tolerable temperature spectrum is wider, from cold seas to the tropics, but we are still talking about the usual.

Bloody encounters between sharks and crocodiles are not uncommon. Proof of this is the image of the battle of a crocodile and a shark on the coat of arms of the city of Surabaya. The main antagonists are combed crocodile, which can swim far into the sea, and a shark of comparable size, due to its aggressiveness.

But the crocodile has more powerful jaws, the force of compression is the roots of the teeth. With equal sizes, in addition, the crocodile will have more weight due to the presence of the skeleton.

Anaconda is more difficult. A lot depends on chance. The crocodile will be lucky to grab it with its jaws - perhaps with its favorite twisting it will have time to tear out a piece of flesh, at least enough to weaken and prevent the snake's body from wrapping around it. And if the anaconda has time to "wrap" the reptile, then that's it, it will break the bones and push it inside, there are enough such videos.

I'm afraid that in the end, one of the three remaining will jump onto the edge of the pool and get a dessert in the form of a pool worker who drove the three of them into this death trap. And then they will shoot the next ... tenth Hollywood horror film.

Everyone will calmly wait for more familiar food to appear. A crocodile is something that is smaller than its size, an anaconda is something that can swallow (again, what smaller). The great white shark will wait for blood markers (blood) to appear in the water. Most likely, both the anaconda and the crocodile will not challenge the right to prey from the white shark if it is interested in it. I think every predator will wait for his own food until he faints, and not fight like spiders in a jar.

"A crocodile is that which is smaller in size."

In fact, crocodiles calmly attack animals not just larger, but much larger than themselves.

He (Kermit) also shot a 12-foot (3.6 m) crocodile. The ugly, formidable beast kept in its stomach sticks, stones, cheetah claws, impala hooves, large eland bones and fragments of the shell of one of the largest river turtles; apparently, he took a fee from among his fellow inhabitants of the river, or from among the creatures who came to quench their thirst. He didn't care if the animals were pastured or harvested for fresh flesh, he just hunted them. (Roosevelt writing from Guaso Nyiro, pp. 286-287.)

The conventional wisdom that crocodiles do not prey on waterbucks has been unequivocally refuted by our observations in the Kruger National Park, and as Table 6 shows, waterbucks are one of the most common warm-blooded prey species in the diet of crocodiles. An important part of the diet of crocodiles are impalas, as well as kudu and bushbucks. We happened to observe how an adult male giraffe, intending to cross the Olifants River, suddenly stumbled, fell and was dragged into the water by a large crocodile. An adult male buffalo was seized at a water hole in Nyavutsi by a fourteen-foot crocodile and drowned after a terrible struggle. Over the years, only two cases of crocodile predation on hippo cubs have been recorded, however, there have been several cases of hyenas, hyena dogs and even lions being killed by crocodiles.
Table 6. List of sightings of animals killed by crocodiles in the Kruger National Park between 1936-1946 and 1954-1966.
1936-1946: 80 impalas, 1 zebra, 21 waterbucks, 7 kudu, 2 buffaloes, 1 warthog, 2 wading goats, 2 duikers, 1 nyala, 1 stenbuck, 3 bushbucks, 2 bush pigs, 1 baboon, 1 wild dog. Total: 125.
1954-1966: 163 impalas, 7 zebras, 4 wildebeests, 41 waterbucks, 22 kudu, 2 buffaloes, 2 giraffes, 3 warthogs, 3 wading goats, 3 nyalas, 1 stenbuck, 21 bushbucks, 1 jumping antelope, 2 hippos ( cubs), 2 hyenas, 1 lion, 1 baboon, 1 vervet, 1 porcupine. Total: 280.

"Once I saw a crocodile attack and really overcome the resistance of a bull buffalo. I watched a reptile lying on a sandy shore with a huge open mouth, his feathered friends are probably the only ones he has. However, the crocodile refused to brush his teeth when the herd of buffaloes came down to drink. Instantly and silently the crocodile slipped into the water, and I wondered in wonder if he would attack such a large herd. Six cows were drinking at the very edge, and the bull went deeper and buried his head in the water, before I saw another sign of the reptile's presence.Then a whirlpool of water swept at lightning speed, and the bull tossed its head with the crocodile in its muzzle.His position on the low bank slope no doubt helped the Croc, and inch by inch he dragged the bull closer to Suddenly, with great effort, the buffalo broke free, but before he could move a distance, the "croc" seized his paw, his head dropped down, and the horns lifted the "half" of the crocodile out of the water and laid it on the sand. But the effort cost the buffalo its position. He knelt down, and at the present moment the crocodile grabbed his nose again. Then I shot at the reptile, the crocodile loosened its grip and soon disappeared under the water. I was hoping I could get it. But in the future, I could not get the carcass. Before the bull could get up, I shot him too to inspect the wounds. Looking at the nose, I found that the crocodile's huge maw had crushed the bones into mush, the flesh, like that of the paw, was torn and dangling away. It seemed incredible that such a deadly strength and ferocity of a crocodile could have developed from a creature that, perhaps a hundred and fifty years ago, emerged from an egg; and which began its life as a lizard about six inches long!"

Giraffe killed by crocodiles:

A wild African buffalo struggled to take its last breath before being dragged underwater by a Nile crocodile in Kazinga Channe, Uganda, Africa. The relationship between predator and prey. The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is one of the African Big Five. They are often seen in large herds and joint protection of relatives (strength in numbers).

This is the first evidence that came to mind. Well, there are many such cases. And this is precisely with successful attacks, but there are also unsuccessful ones. Crocodiles are highly specialized hunters of large prey.

Answer

Comment

First of all - depending on which crocodile to take. combed or nile crocodile bite and white shark, and anaconda. Especially the last one. Indeed, in fact, no 10-meter snakes exist and did not exist, with the exception of a number of extinct species today. The largest green anacondas reach about 5.5-6 meters in length and weigh up to about 100 kg, while the largest modern combed crocodiles can weigh up to about 1750 kg with a length of up to 7 meters, and white sharks - more than 2.3 tons with a length of not less than 6.1 meters.
And the so-called "videos with the victories of anacondas over crocodiles", which were mentioned here, actually demonstrate the eating of "harmless" crocodile or Yakar caimans by snakes. And those are usually smaller than the anacondas themselves in size. But the point here is not even in "more or less", but in the fact that the caiman is far from being a crocodile of the same size. In fact, young crocodiles calmly eat caimans of their size when kept together in captivity. Whether the anaconda will be able to cope with the crocodile of the same size, or will be bitten by it in half - this is another question. Whatever it was, but even if a 100 kg anaconda can compete on equal terms with an approximately 3-meter 100 kg crocodile, then it simply has no chance against a larger one. Against a shark, I think she will have more chances, since the body of a shark is devoid of bones and can easily be flattened by squeezing the anaconda rings. But not against a 2-ton shark.)

As for the white shark, although it is larger than the saltwater crocodile, the sharks themselves are frankly bad fighters. They live off the opportunistic eating of carrion, fish, cephalopods, and only sometimes young or weakened by old age / diseases marine mammals. Don't fall for the common and misleading discussion that "white sharks specialize in feeding on seals". It's a myth from documentaries that there's nothing else to show but seasonal baby shark feeding. sea ​​lions. Sharks have extremely primitive physiology: in particular, the kidneys are practically disabled and waste products accumulate in the blood until they themselves flow through the rectal glands and gills. And this is strong (and by no means in better side) affects endurance, strength of muscle contractions, coordination of movements and nervous system in general, which in sharks are already not very well developed. The cartilaginous skeleton, even with proper calcination, cannot attach to itself such a powerful musculature as even the thin bones of bony fish, not to mention the powerful skeletons of such developed higher vertebrates as crocodiles. The same applies to the jaws: the cartilaginous jaws of sharks are also very unstable to stress and deform easily. The jaws of young white sharks do not allow them to cope even with seal pups without risk, without literally risking their head. In large sharks, during ontogenesis, this deficiency is partly compensated by an increase in the calcium content in the cartilage of the jaws. But, I emphasize - only partly. Being ordinary modified scales, shark teeth do not have roots and easily fall out of the gums even from small loads. And them a large number of may not always compensate. I say right away sharks don't bite through shells sea ​​turtles - this is also a myth based on the study of the contents of the stomachs of sharks and the finds of the carcasses of unfortunate turtles with traces of shark teeth. But only the tortoise shell softened by water becomes very fragile, especially if it is some kind of leatherback or Australian turtle. green turtle. And pieces of shells of sea turtles in the stomachs of sharks, in addition to eating carrion that has kneaded in the water, can also fall as a result of swallowing turtles whole: in this way, by the way, snakes and monitor lizards eat turtles that do not have sufficient bite force to open the shells. No one has ever seen a shark swim up and gnaw through the shell of a fresh turtle, and I guarantee you that. But there are more than enough videos where large tiger sharks bite the tails, heads and flippers of turtles, but cannot do anything with the shell. And although the protective function of the osteoderms of large crocodiles is frankly secondary, it will be very difficult for a shark to bite through the thick skin of a crocodile. Even the belly of a crocodile, whose vulnerability is invented and imposed by the pseudo-documentary program "animal battles", is in fact reinforced not only with quite a decent skin (comparable in strength to buffalo and going to elite leather products), but also with a large layer of muscles with abdominal ribs. Finally, sharks are frankly cowardly: White shark- the only one large predator from which people regularly fight back with bare hands. Moreover, there are cases when people survived after attacks even by 5.5-6 meter sharks. Again, since white sharks are by no means specialists in eating fat seals, you should not think that people are not to their liking. The shark will eat any meat available to it, it is an opportunistic predator: in the stomachs of white sharks, they found bivalves, herring, small squid, sea turtles, rats, the remains of unidentified land animals, in one case even found a 1.2-1.5 meter Australian narrow-nosed crocodile. These animals are by no means less "appetizing" than humans, but white sharks eat them with pleasure. In the end, the same polar bear is a much bigger specialist in fatty foods. But this does not prevent him from considering people as food ... And even if you do not dwell on the low fatality of shark attacks on people, then the same seals, as a rule, also survive after shark bites. It is easier to find photographs of shark-injured seals recovering from damage on the beach than to find cases of successful white shark predation on adult pinnipeds. White sharks are not hunters of large prey, and they do not suppress the resistance of even relatively small prey.
Therefore, I do not think that the saltwater crocodile will have any problems killing a primitive and frankly shy white shark. After all, many successful attacks by crocodiles on a variety of sharks have been recorded. Salted crocodiles are extremely aggressive - males defending food or territory often rush even to helicopters (seemingly very "terrible" because of the noise and size of unfamiliar objects) rangers. But most importantly, unlike sharks, crocodiles regularly fight with each other and are able to suppress the resistance of even a large and well-armed victim (after all, successful attacks of crocodiles are known even on big cats). They handle large animals with ease, and some individuals in Australia's tea swamps even specialize in taking adult Asian water buffaloes. The white shark and the saltwater crocodile are, let's say, animals from two completely different "leagues", despite the weight superiority of the shark.

So I propose to complicate the question: what happens if you put a plesiosuchus, a plesiotylosaurus, a liopleurodon, a large combed crocodile and a full-grown male walrus in one pool?

Of course, in this case, he will not be a priority fighter. But of the marine mammals of this size, only the walrus can do something:

"One can hardly speak of any serious food competition between walrus ami and polar bears, even taking into account the fact that walrus and from time to time also feed on carrion - for example, the corpses of whales. In the hungry months of the polar winter, whale carcasses are the main food for all the inhabitants of the Arctic, from gulls and ravens to arctic foxes, wolves and bears. Robert Brown notes that stomachs walrus her, killed near skinned whale carcasses, are invariably stuffed with whale meat. Walrus and sometimes they even kill small ringed seals - as we already know, the main prey polar bear. It is possible that they do not disdain sea hares. Pedersen says seals are afraid walrus to her and avoid places of their haul-outs. Freichen says that the herds walrus She usually drives the seals out of the bays where they spend the summer months.
We have no reason not to believe the stories about how the Eskimos are fishing north of Baffin Land. walrus her on the edge of the ice floes; they dip a piece of seal oil into the water in the hope that walrus, attracted by the bait, will grab it and try to drag it under water; but since walrus cannot eat a piece under water, he must pull it out onto the ice, and here it becomes the prey of the hunter. They say that, noticing black spots - seals lying on the ice, walrus and break through the ice from below to get to them. According to Pedersen, the walrus deliberately hollowed out the ice floe, trying to split it under the feet of a man. Eskimos from the Hudson Strait say that in the fall, when they track walruses at the holes, the walruses, noticing the place where the hunter is standing, dive and then begin to break the ice under him.
Frederick Jackson, who lived for about four years in the southeast of Franz Josef Land at the end of the last century, as well as one of Haig-Thomas's companions, were attacked by a walrus right on an ice floe: the walrus leaned out of the water and tried to hit with tusks. K. Kollevey, a member of the German expedition that landed on the northwestern coast of Greenland in 1869, wrote: “We were hardly making our way along the path among the treacherous ice fields and suddenly saw a walrus: it broke through the ice from below very close to us and frightened us with its unexpected We ran as fast as we could, but the walrus did not leave us - with great speed it swam after us under water, breaking the ice under our feet. and the flapping of the monster's flippers accompanied us all the way, until at last we got out onto the old ice, where the pursuer left us alone.
If suddenly a group of people from the ship frightens a seal and a walrus lying on an ice floe not far from the hole, then the walrus, which moves faster on land than the seal, will be the first to reach the saving vent. But instead of going around the seal peacefully, the walrus purposely hits him on the back with his tusks; this unexpected manifestation of aggressiveness is certainly a consequence of fear. Usually walruses hunt seals in the water. Pedersen twice saw a walrus chase and then kill a young ringed seal. And the Eskimos from the shores of Cumberland Bay told Gantzsh that more than once they watched walruses catch seals in the water, grabbing them with flippers and then stabbing them with tusks. The Eskimos of Pond Inlet tell the same story.
In the pools of the New York Aquarium, they constantly measure the speed at which walruses of different age groups swim. The maximum throwing speed does not exceed 7-9 kilometers per hour, and the normal cruising speed is only three and a half kilometers. In the wild, walruses make 10-13 kilometers per hour, and the slowest of the seals - at least 15-20 kilometers. Therefore, it is not surprising that walruses hunt only for young seals. However, assuming that walruses swim much faster in the sea than in a pool (and we know that they overtake even fast-moving belugas), one cannot but admit that seals in the water are much more mobile than walruses. Therefore, when hunting seals, the walrus, like a bear, swims on its back and dives under the seal at the moment when the seal sticks its head out of the water to breathe. Having clasped him with flippers, the walrus strikes with tusks, cutting open the chest of the seal. Then, holding his prey with flippers in the same way as a walrus holds a puppy, the male walrus swims with it to the nearest ice floe, throws the carcass onto the ice and climbs out himself. There he rips open the seal with tusks and greedily swallows large pieces of skin with fat. It is possible that he uses his whiskers for this operation. Observations show that in captivity a walrus, tearing off pieces of meat from a seal carcass, helps itself with vibrissae. Especially walruses love to feast on soft seal fat: a small distance between the tusks sitting on both sides of its mouth does not allow it to swallow large pieces of meat. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the seal carcass is untouched. However, somehow Pedersen found a whole flipper in the stomach of a walrus.
In those months when there is especially a lot of polar cod, walruses sometimes catch this fish too, crashing into schools and eating it in large quantities.
Predatory walruses are still an anomalous and rather rare phenomenon. Fei believes that in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, there is hardly one male predator per thousand walruses. But still they exist and are much more common than is commonly thought. In the stomachs of walruses, young narwhals were found more than once, as well as the skin and fat of a whale. There is even the only evidence of how two walruses attacked a whale from two sides, which defended itself with its tail. Apparently, whales avoid entering waters where there are walruses. The famous polar navigator of the early 19th century, William Scoresby Jr., observed many times in the Norwegian and Greenland seas how walruses devour narwhals. Eskimos from the Simpson Strait told William Schwatka that walruses often attack porpoises. The Englishman Robert Gray, skipper of a whaling ship that entered the waters of the Norwegian Sea in 1890, wrote: “Standing on the bridge, I noticed some object in the dark water, over which birds were circling. Having lowered the boat into the water, we saw that it was a narwhal , completely covered with wounds, his belly was almost eaten away. The culprit of the crime - a huge walrus, was sleeping peacefully nearby on a fragment of an ice floe. "
Twelve years before this message, Gray's father, whose ship was in the Greenland Sea 275 miles from the coast of Spitsbergen, writes in the ship's log: "Moving north through ice fields and drifting ice, this morning I saw ahead of some object that at first I took it for the shaft of a hand harpoon. The water around it was oily, and several birds were sitting nearby. At first I thought it was a dead whale, but then I saw that it was the tusk of a narwhal. When we got closer, I noticed something in the water near it brown and wondered for a while what it could be, but soon I realized that it was a walrus, tightly clinging to a narwhal.
When we got quite close, I sent two boats and ordered to throw a hand harpoon at the narwhal and shoot from the harpoon gun at the walrus. The blow of the first harpooner fell at the very nose of the walrus. The walrus became furious and released the narwhal, which immediately began to sink. The walrus obviously did not want to part with the prey, and, diving, he pulled the narwhal to the surface. Wrapping his flippers around him, he sank his teeth into him again.
At this time, the second boat approached, the harpooner fired from the cannon directly into the neck of the walrus, and he finally released the narwhal. The walrus dragged the boat along the wind for quite some time until a shot from a gun in the back of the head killed him.
After examining the carcasses, we found that the narwhal was missing the insides, and most of the belly was eaten or torn apart by the walrus, which selectively chose the pieces, apparently having spent a lot of time on the meal. He ate the fat from the skin as cleanly as if it had been scraped off with a knife. The narwhal was recently killed, in a deadly fight, the walrus wounded him with fangs from nose to tail. The walrus itself was intact. It had a three-inch-thick layer of fat on it, and its stomach was stuffed with sealskin and chunks of freshly eaten narwhal meat. According to our rough estimate, there were at least fifteen gallons of blubber in his stomach.
The narwhal was about fourteen feet long, not counting the tusk, and nine feet in girth. The tusk was five feet long.
The walrus was eleven feet long and nine feet ten inches in girth.
How, one wonders, did the walrus manage to keep such a powerful beast as the narwhal? Narwhal in his native element feels much freer than a walrus, and can leave with a harpoon entrenched in him, unwinding a hundred-foot whale line.
This is the only explanation I can think of: the walrus caught the narwhal while he was sleeping, dived under him and, thrusting his tusks into his belly, wrapped his flippers around him. In this position we found them, with the only difference being that the walrus was now on top."

The tourist witnessed a bloody fight between two giant monsters.

An observant British tourist was able to answer the question, long years haunted many lovers wildlife: who is stronger - a crocodile or a shark?

Nile crocodiles also prey on bull and sand sharks in the Zambezi River and Lake St. Lucia. Lemon sharks avoid areas inhabited by sharp-snouted crocodiles, reacting to their excreted chemical compounds. And although all these sharks are usually much smaller than large crocodiles, there are references that crocodiles are capable of killing sharks close to their own size. In one such case, a young Nile crocodile killed a large bull shark, and in another, a 3-meter combed crocodile threw a 2.1-meter shark, approximately equal in weight, over the water, and then tore it into pieces.

Encounters of larger species of sharks with crocodiles are relatively rare, as they prefer to completely different places a habitat. However, tiger sharks, sometimes hunting in coastal waters or even estuaries, can meet with crocodiles. Yellow Waters personnel reported finding the remains of a 4.6 m tiger shark in the estuary, killed and partially eaten by a saltwater crocodile. A combed crocodile was observed eating a tiger shark on the Townsville beach.

It is believed that tiger sharks avoid the habitat of saltwater crocodiles, possibly due to similar food preferences. So, saltwater crocodiles off the Cape York Peninsula in Australia have an instructive saying among divers and yachtsmen: "don't worry about the tiger sharks, the saltwater crocodiles have already eaten them." On the other hand, a 4.3 meter tiger shark was caught in Dubai, South Africa, whose stomach contents included the remains of the head and forelimbs of an unidentified approximately 2.5 meter crocodile. However, this find is recognized as the result of eating carrion.

Norman Caldwell described the murder case very big shark(weighing about 900 pounds) a hungry crocodile; according to the author, after a stubborn struggle, the crocodile dragged the emaciated shark to the shore and ate the tail of his victim, leaving the rest to decompose in fetid mud. In another case, a fight between a shark and a crocodile was observed off the coast of Madagascar, as a result of which the shark managed to fight back and bite off part of the crocodile's tail, which the sailors immediately lassoed and pulled out of the water, thereby stopping the fight. There is a report of a mako shark being killed by a combed crocodile in the waters near Kakadu National Park. In the intertidal zones of Northern Australia, especially near estuaries, some scars on the bodies of young saltwater crocodiles have been identified as possible shark tooth marks, suggesting frequent aggressive interactions between these animals.

In addition, there is fairly reliable information about the killing of an approximately 5.5 meter female white shark by a very large, approximately 6 meter combed crocodile in 1939. As a result of this encounter, the crocodile flipped the shark on its back, ripped out its skull, and ripped open its neck using a deadly spin. Moreover, Australian fishermen at the beginning of the 20th century claimed that this was observed repeatedly. Author and journalist Peter Hanhock described a "huge lizard" that entered the ocean and killed a great white shark. There is a fairly high probability that the described "megalania" was actually a combed crocodile. On the other hand, a small 1.2-1.5 meter Australian freshwater crocodile was found in the stomach of a 4.9 m white shark caught in Queensland.

Comparative characteristics
Different types of sharks and crocodiles have different sizes. White sharks usually reach 3.9-4.8 m in length, with a weight of 680-1100 kg, tiger sharks usually have a length of 3.25-4.25 m, with a mass of 385-635 kg, bull sharks on average have a length of 2.3 up to 2.4 m with a mass of 90-130 kg. And while female sharks of these species, as a rule, are larger than males.

In crocodiles, as a rule, the opposite is true - males are much larger and stronger than females. Male combed crocodiles usually reach about 4.3-5.2 m in length and weigh from 400 to 1000 kg, and females - from 2.3 to 3 m and weigh no more than 40-100 kg. Male Nile crocodiles are typically 4 to 5 meters long and weigh 300-600 kg, while females are 2.2 to 3.8 meters long and weigh 40 to 250 kg. The length of adult males of sharp-snouted crocodiles in continental rivers in most of the range ranges from 2.9 to 4 m, and females - from 2.5 to 3 m, while on the islands and coasts they are much smaller - for example, in the coastal zone of Belize, adults weigh only 77.8 kg.

Armament
Salted crocodile is the potential owner of the strongest bite in the animal kingdom. The calculated force of compression of the jaws of a large male combed crocodile weighing 1308 kg is from 27531 to 34424 newtons, which is equivalent to a gravity force of 2809.3-3512.7 kg. The greatest practical result was obtained when measuring the pressure of the jaws of 4.59 m 531 kg of a male combed crocodile - 16414 N, or approximately 1675 kg. Thus, this is the second most powerful bite measured in any animal in the laboratory. The first place here certainly takes the pressure of 2268 kg, issued by more than 5-meter Nile crocodile when measured by Brady Barr. The length of the largest teeth in the mouth of a 4.8 m combed crocodile reaches 9 cm, total teeth in real crocodiles - 64-68, in alligators - 74-80, in gharials - up to a hundred. Crocodile teeth are not designed to cut meat, however, given their monstrous bite force and physical strength, this is not a disadvantage - a crocodile's jaws can easily cut through the skin, muscles and even bones of a large animal, like an ax.

As for the white shark, its force of jaws is relatively small. However, given the structure of the teeth and the mechanism of bite, these sharks do not need to have very powerful bite. In 2008, a simulation was carried out that made it possible to estimate the power of shark jaws. It has been found that the bite force of a white shark with a length of 2.5 m and a mass of 240 kg can reach 3131 N, while in a shark with a length of 6.4 m and a mass of 3324 kg it would be 18216 N. The bull shark has relatively much more powerful jaws, than the white one - one individual bit the sensor with a force of about 6000 N. The teeth of the white shark reach 5 cm in length and have serrated edges, which make it possible to cut off pieces of soft fat and meat from the victim with some efficiency. Their total number is up to 300. Some other sharks have similar adaptations for feeding on relatively large animals. But it is highly unlikely that the jaws of a shark are able to cope with the strong skin of a crocodile.

Temperament
In general, crocodiles are significantly more aggressive animals than sharks, and tend to be more prone to conflict of any kind.

The most aggressive crocodiles are combed crocodiles - the most asocial modern representatives of his unit, known for fierce territorial battles. Among the large species of crocodiles high level aggression is also distinguished by the Cuban crocodiles, which dominate over the larger sharp-snouted crocodiles in nature and in captivity, and the Nile crocodiles. Contrary to popular misconception, sizes play far from the most important role in the conflicts of crocodiles, as opposed to experience and aggression.

Among sharks, bull sharks are considered the most aggressive. Mako sharks and some smaller shark species can also be aggressive. There is a case in which a mako shark chased away a great white shark. As a rule, the social hierarchy in sharks is based on the size of specific individuals and larger females tend to dominate males.

American alligators and sharks are known for their extreme eating habits. They are opportunistic predators that will not fail to plunge their greedy jaws into any potential prey they see. Including each other, says zoologist James Nifong from the University of Kansas (USA).

A Mississippi alligator chews on a nurse shark on Sanibel Island, Florida (USA). Photo: USFWS.

For the past ten years, Niphon has been studying Mississippi alligators in their freshwater homelands in the southeastern United States and has repeatedly seen various sharks swim there. He wondered if the crocodiles interact with their sea guests, if the greens manage to teach uninvited fish a lesson with punishing teeth. Digging in scientific literature and after consulting with experts, he learned of a number of confirmed cases of alligators devouring lemon sharks, small-headed hammerheads, baleen nurse sharks and stingrays. Estrogillary cartilaginous fish may be an important but underestimated food resource for alligators, Nifun said.

Meanwhile, such evidence is rare, and there are several reasons for this. First, alligators with sharks are not easy to track and observe in coastal habitats. Secondly, alligators devour relatively small sharks, which can not be identified from afar, mistaking them for some bony fish. Thirdly, the acidity in the stomachs of alligators is so high that any food, with the exception of hair or shells, dissolves very quickly there, especially cartilage, so it is not possible to identify the remains of sharks and rays in crocodile nausea or directly in the stomachs at autopsy.

Cases of meetings of crocodiles with elasmobranchs are also known from other parts of the world. IN South Africa, for example, the remains of two unidentified shark species were found in the stomach of the Nile crocodile. Salted crocodiles have been observed preying on blunt-nosed sharks in Australia, and a recent study documented crocodile bite marks on half of the surveyed sawfish rays in the west of the continent. Crocodiles love meat cartilaginous fish- Aborigines even use it in traps as bait for combed crocodiles.

Nifun was able to find some interesting newspaper clippings of the 19th century, which tell about the battles of sharks with Mississippi alligators. So, in October 1877, hundreds of alligators, attracted by the abundance of fish formed after high tide in a bay near Jupiter, Florida, were attacked by hundreds of huge sharks, who also smelled potential food. According to an eyewitness, alligators with sharks “rose on the waves and gnawed like dogs”, after which the surf turned bloody, and then for several days the coast was littered for 80 miles with the corpses of headless and tailless alligators and sharks bitten in two - a real feast for vultures and buzzards! Perhaps the journalists The Fishing Gazette, exaggerated and embellished in places, but alligators and sharks do sometimes gather in large flocks in places where prey accumulates, so large-scale interspecific skirmishes cannot be ruled out. And in those days, their flocks were much more numerous than they are today, which increased the likelihood of such battles, Nifung adds.

Another story from Florida appeared in The Palatka Daily News in May 1884: a certain three-meter shark tracked down a two-meter alligator and attacked him, biting into his side and biting in half, after which "half of the defeated enemy disappeared into the deep throat of a predator." Yes, sharks are also not born with a bast and can kick crocodiles! Moreover, this enmity has been going on for millions of years, at least since the late Cretaceous: Fossil bones of crocodiles with bite marks from ancient sharks have been found in northeastern Mali. However, predatory shark aggression against sinister reptilians is relatively rare these days, and such evidence often looks implausible, but the opposite cannot be said, Nifnuf notes. So far, the crocodiles seem to be winning.

Text: Viktor Kovylin. According to materials:

Shark vs crocodile - whose jaws are more dangerous?

Shark is a dangerous and predatory inhabitant sea ​​waters, leading to awe almost the entire human tribe, has a number of impressive rivals. killer whales and whales. She also suffers from her own relatives - stronger and larger specimens.

Even a cold-blooded crocodile against a shark can use its death grip, which has killed more than one large animal.

Surprisingly, but fights between sharks and crocodiles are not so rare. Proof of this is the image of the battle of a crocodile and a shark on the coat of arms of the city of Surabaya. The battles between them are always bloody and merciless. Each of the opponents has power and skill, so the outcome of the battles is not predictable.

Let's try to analyze and compare a crocodile and a shark in a possible fight.

Predator encounter locations

For many people, it will be a revelation that some species of crocodiles are tolerant of the salt water of the seas. This is the crocodile caiman, and the Nile crocodile, and the African narrow-snouted and sharp-snouted crocodiles.

The natural habitat of many predatory sharks - the seas and oceans - are not a hindrance to them. And, for example, a combed crocodile can even swim far into the open sea, where it is possible to meet a dangerous and cunning opponent in the form of a shark. There are frequent cases when and where crocodiles live.

Causes of possible collisions between a crocodile and a shark

Large species of crocodiles feed mainly on fish, so the shark is, first of all, an object of hunting for them. Small bottom species of sharks for crocodiles are no different from other inhabitants of the seas that serve as food.

Large species of sharks are opponents and competitors in the struggle for food. Shark attacks, knowing them, are not something out of the ordinary.

Watch video - Crocodile vs shark:

Sizes and morphological features of opponents

If we consider the shark and the crocodile as equal opponents, then you should pay attention to large species these animals. Adult individuals of certain species of crocodiles can reach 4-6 meters in length (combed crocodile), which approaches.

All crocodiles are characterized by a long, high tail, laterally compressed, which allows them to swim well and maneuver in the water. The presence of webbing on the hind legs also characterize crocodiles as swimmers. Shields, located throughout the body, play the role of a kind of shell. A, formed by ribs and some other bones, rib cage fully protects the internal organs.

Teeth, like those of sharks, change throughout life, but they are more firmly "held" in the jaw. Sharks do.

In crocodiles, the muscles of the jaws are well developed, so their compressive strength is enormous and significantly exceeds that of sharks. And due to the fact that pressure-sensitive receptor cells are located between the teeth, the crocodile can control the force of compression.

Due to the fact that crocodiles have a bone skeleton, they will have more weight with equal sizes with a shark.

Strength, Agility and Agility

The crocodile, which seems slow and sluggish on land, can develop considerable speed in the water. With the help of the movement of the tail and body from side to side, the crocodile moves like fish.

It is thanks to the developed muscles of the tail and body that in some cases, especially in moments of danger or during a hunt, a crocodile can vertically jump out of the water. The tail is not only a means of transportation, but also a dangerous weapon with which the animal can defend itself from rivals and even kill fish.

Hunting tricks of crocodiles and sharks

The shark, as we already know, can describe circles around the intended victim. And the frequent attacks inflicted by the shark, accompanied by bites, can lead to significant blood loss in the opponent. With shark fever, predators lose control and become uncontrollable. predict further actions sharks in this case is problematic.

Crocodiles can, clinging their jaws to the victim, drag it under water. small fish they can be thrown out of the water, or they can be caught by a sharp turn of the head to the side, which significantly reduces the resistance of water in relation to the head.

The crocodile copes with large enemies or victims in a slightly different way - firmly clinging to the victim with its jaws, the crocodile makes a sharp 360-degree turn, thus tearing out a piece of flesh or turning the neck of the enemy. Also, the crocodile can keep its teeth interlocked for a long time until the victim weakens.

Video - Fight of a crocodile and a shark for a turtle carcass:

Results of fights between a crocodile and a shark

For filming documentary film"Animal battles" scientists created robot models that possessed the skills, strength and reaction of some animals. Based on this, scientists could predict the outcome of the battle between the great white shark and the saltwater crocodile.

Watch the video - The battle of the crocodile and the shark:

In this battle, the shark won, but many biologists consider this just a lucky coincidence. The power and strength of the crocodile's jaws exceed those of sharks, which can easily lead to serious injury and death of the shark.

Tourists national park Kakadu (Australia) became unwitting witnesses to the battle between the crocodile and. As a result of a long and stubborn struggle, the crocodile, having torn open the shark's belly, emerged victorious. Such fights, according to local residents are not uncommon.

Shark and crocodile, swiftness and grip - who will emerge victorious in the next battle?