14 DAY TRIAL // While visiting the Sabi Sands game reserve in South Africa, a group of tourists chanced to witness a crocodile plunging out of a local river and attacking an elephant.
The formidable attack was caught on camera. Don't fret, photos showing the crocodile trying to kill and eat the pachyderm are included in the gallery below.
Spoiler alert: this clash did not end very well for the crocodile, even though the reptile was fairly big and freakishly strong. In a nutshell, the elephant taught it a thing or two about respect.
The crocodile took the elephant by surprise
As mentioned, the incident occurred in the Sabi Sands game reserve in South Africa. The tourists who witnessed it say that, when it was attacked by the crocodile, the elephant was getting ready to leave a watering hole with the rest of its herd.
It was just as the pachyderm was pulling its body out of the water that the crocodile grabbed it by its trunk. The tourists say that, the moment the reptile's teeth sank deep into its flesh, the elephant panicked and began trumpeting.
Desperate to escape, the elephant pulled the crocodile up into the air. However, the reptile refused to let go. The people who witnessed this close encounter say that, at one point, the pachyderm was waving the crocodile around as if it were a rag doll. Still, the reptile would not free it.
How the elephant eventually managed to escape
The reason why the elephant managed to save itself from becoming the crocodile's lunch is because, at one point, it kicked the reptile with its knee and then tried to stab it with its tusks. When this happened, the crocodile finally figured out that it had bitten more than it could kill and let go.
“Eventually, when the croc wouldn't loosen his grip, the elephant slammed him on the ground and put his knee, and the full weight of his body, on to the croc and then jabbed it with his tusks. This finally got the croc to relent and the elephant ran up the hill of the bank,” says tourist Ashley Lewis, as cited by Daily Mail.
By the looks of it, the elephant only sustained minor injuries while desperately trying to shake off the crocodile. The reptile, on the other hand, it believed to have been badly wounded when the pachyderm hit it with its knees and its tusks.
