In for the kill! Brutal moment jaguar attacks a caiman underwater and drags its thrashing body out of a Brazilian river in its powerful jaws
- The jaguar named King Juru launches an attack on an unsuspecting caiman
- Predator grabs hold of the thrashing reptile and sinks its teeth into its throat
- The animal then drags the caiman onto the bank and pulls it into the bushes
This is the moment a jaguar launched a ferocious attack on an unsuspecting caiman before emerging from the water with the creature in his jaws.
Footage captured in Brazil’s northern Pantanal region, shows the predator named King Juru grab hold of the caiman underwater.
A tussle ensues as the jaguar sinks his teeth into the reptile’s throat and tries to secure its grip.
The jaguar then drags the thrashing spectacled caiman onto the riverbank before pulling it into the bushes.
The jaguar named King Juru sinks his teeth into the caiman’s throat during the attack in Brazil
The predator wrestles the caiman in the water after launching itself onto the creature
The footage was filmed last August by wildlife biologist Abigail Martin, from New York, who founded the Jaguar Identification Project, a non-profit organisation building a database on jaguars in the North Pantanal in 2013.
In a post on social media the organisation wrote: ‘Today we witnessed an epic kill by the King Juru!
‘Check out how he adjusts his grip in a split second allowing him to pull the caiman to the bank to make the final kill!’
Following the scenes, one viewer wrote: ‘Pound for pound the toughest cat on planet earth.’
While another person added: ‘Mighty jaguar.’
One social media commented: ‘I want to fight like the jaguar in my life to achieve my goals.’
The caiman thrashes around in the water as the jaguar tries to secure its grip on the animal
The jaguar launches itself on the reptile underwater in footage captured by the Jaguar Identification Project
The predator drags the thrashing caiman onto the river bank before pulling it into the bushes
The Jaguar Identification Project estimates there are 4,000-7,000 jaguars in the northern Pantanal region, and it hopes its database will lead to better understanding their behaviour.
Jaguars are the third biggest cat in the world – after the tiger and the lion – growing up to 5.5ft (170cm) long.
Unlike many domestic cats, jaguars are confident swimmers and often live near rivers, lakes and wetlands.
They are also stalk and bush predators and will often kill their prey by sinking their teeth into the skull or neck.
Viewers soon reacted to the clip, with one calling the scenes ‘unbelievable’ and another calling the jaguar a ‘magnificent animal’
The word jaguar originates from the South American Tupi and Guarani word ‘yaguar’ and means ‘he that kills with one leap’.
Like jaguars, caimans are predators and their diet mainly consists of fish, crustaceans and small mammals.
The spectacled caiman, also known as the common caiman, is found throughout much of Central and South America.
Males grow to around 6.5ft (two metres) long, while females are smaller, usually around 4.5 feet (1.4 metres).
The species are related to alligators and are usually placed in the Alligatoridae family.
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