Watch the World’s Luckiest Impala Miraculously Escape a Croc’s Jaws of Death
The Youtube channel Maasai Sightings caught astonishing footage of an impala escaping death. This impala came for a drink of water but almost became a crocodile’s lunch. Check out the video of a crocodile attacking an impala!
Where Do Crocodiles Live?
Antarctica and Europe are the only continents without wild crocodiles. You can find crocodiles near water in humid tropics throughout the rest of the continents. But it’s only in Africa where crocodiles and impalas come to blows, as we see in this clip of a crocodile attacking an impala.
You can find crocodiles near water in humid tropics throughout Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.©Volodymyr Burdiak/Shutterstock.com
What Do Crocodiles Normally Eat?
Crocodiles rely on the element of surprise to catch food, making them formidable ambush predators. In addition, because of their large size, their bodies require large amounts of energy. So, crocodiles have to be choosy about the prey they take down. If the prey puts up too much of a fight, it’s more profitable for a crocodile to cut its losses and feed on something easy.
Their camouflage and stealth in the water is a huge advantage in hunting. Crocodiles will use murky waters to blend in or hunt when it’s dark out since they have excellent night vision. When the timing is right, a crocodile will chomp smaller prey whole. Or, for larger prey, a crocodile will barrel roll it in the water, drowning the prey before eating it. This is a problem for the crocodile attacking the impala in the video, as they are both on dry land.
Because it takes a lot of energy to hunt, and because of their slow metabolism, crocodiles eat every 3-10 days. When they do hunt, crocodiles prefer fish, birds, frogs, and any other small animal they can swallow in one go. In fact, crocodiles will consume small stones to help grind up the animal they just ate. It helps with digestion and allows them to stay underwater longer.
Crocodiles eat small mammals, birds, fish, bugs, frogs, other species of reptiles, and crustaceans.©Dotifi.com Domains .com
Crocodile Attacking an Impala: Is It Normal?
When a crocodile bites, it’s hard to escape. Its pointed, cone-shaped teeth are designed to pierce easily, and the crocodile’s jaw has incredible muscle strength. In fact, the muscles used to close the jaw are much stronger than the muscles used to open it.
If it looks like an easy shot, a crocodile will take down a larger mammal, such as this crocodile attacking an impala. But crocodiles are very good at discerning whether an attack will be worth it. As mentioned before, crocodiles have to guard their energy carefully.
As you can see from the video at the bottom, the crocodile realizes that it is out of its element. It could have drowned the impala if it had been in the water. However, on land is a different story. As soon as the crocodile decides to call it quits and releases the impala’s leg, the impala books it out of there. There was no way for the crocodile to win this.
So, while crocodiles do go after impalas, they much prefer something that requires one bite. That is why their prey of choice is fish, birds, and all small creatures.
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