<p>We now have an answer to the question nobody was asking: Which would win in a fight—a leopard or a crocodile? The leopard came out on top, as you can see in the gripping images <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1036216/Pictured-The-incredible-moment-leopard-attacks-crocodile.html" title="">here</a>. An American photographer was trying to capture hippos at a watering hole in South Africa when this battle <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/07/18/ealeopard118.xml" title="">began right in front of him</a>.  In the midst of awe at the power of the photos, the first ever shot of a leopard attacking this huge reptilian foe, the newspaper reports do mention the key question: Why would the leopard even bother? Yes, the cat came out the winner this time by biting the croc's neck and never letting go. But had the croc seen its killer coming a little bit sooner, the fight could have easily gone the other way. And crocs aren't all that meaty, meaning there's little reward for such a risky assault. We'll count this as a marvelously documented aberration, and hope it doesn't continue to happen. If <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/leopard.html" title="">leopards </a>start launching more attacks on crocs in the future, it could mean there's not enough of the cats' usual prey around anymore, which would spell trouble for them. Image: flickr/<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/digitalart/" title="">digitalART2 </a></p><div class="vert-display-toggle collapsible relative flex flex-col items-center "><div class="vert-unit mt-4 mb-3 top-20"><div ad-type="mobile-desktop" class="ad-wrapper vert min-h-boombox flex items-start justify-center" data-ad-mapping="inline" data-ad-slot="Discover/inline-ad" id="div-inline-ad-0"></div></div><span aria-label="Advertisement" class="text-ad mt-1 text-[11px] uppercase">Advertisement</span></div>

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A photographer documents the rare moment a leopard attacks a crocodile at a South Africa watering hole. Discover the details.

Planet Earth

In Battle of African Titans, Leopard Vanquishes Crocodile

Article

News

Andrew Moseman

Science

We now have an answer to the question nobody was asking: Which would win in a fight—a leopard or a crocodile? The leopard came out on top, as you can see in the gripping images here. An American photographer was trying to capture hippos at a watering hole in South Africa when this battle began right in front of him.  In the midst of awe at the power of the photos, the first ever shot of a leopard attacking this huge reptilian foe, the newspaper reports do mention the key question: Why would the leopard even bother? Yes, the cat came out the winner this time by biting the croc's neck and never letting go. But had the croc seen its killer coming a little bit sooner, the fight could have easily gone the other way. And crocs aren't all that meaty, meaning there's little reward for such a risky assault. We'll count this as a marvelously documented aberration, and hope it doesn't continue to happen. If leopards start launching more attacks on crocs in the future, it could mean there's not enough of the cats' usual prey around anymore, which would spell trouble for them. Image: flickr/digitalART2

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