Lookout Below

It’s the greatest animal warrior death-match since Alien vs. Predator. Paul van Bruggen snapped some amazing pictures of an 8-foot salt-water crocodile dining on a shark on the banks of the Daly River in the Northern Territory, Australia.

“We went past one section of the river and we heard some splashing,” Bruggen said. “We looked across and saw a shark’s tail coming up out of the water and then a crocodile’s head came up and grabbed it.”

The crocodile appeared to know exactly what it was doing, dragging the shark on to unfamiliar dry land before finishing off its prey.

News.com.au

A shark attacked and killed a 16-year-old boy Tuesday while he and a friend were bodyboarding off Australia’s east coast.  Peter Edmonds was about 50 yards from shore when the shark attacked.  Edmonds suffered two large bites, one to his leg and one to his chest.  He died from extreme blood loss while lifeguards and paramedics frantically tried to save him.

It was the first fatal shark attack in Australia in two years.  In spite of all the media attention, shark attacks are extremely rare.  You are three times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be bitten by a shark, and thousands of times more likely to be killed while driving to the beach.  There are an average of 32 shark attacks per year in U.S. waters, with only 11 fatalities between 1990 and 2004.

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Relative Risk of Shark Attacks to Humans