Incredible moment of jaguar and alligator battle caught on camera

By Yasmin Harisha via SWNS

This incredible footage shows the moment a jaguar and caiman, a species of alligator, fight to the death - after the fearsome cat jumps 10 feet from a tree onto the reptile's back.

Wildlife photographer Kevin Dooley, 58, watched as the jaguar "never failed to break its gaze" from the caiman swimming in the river below in Pantanal, Brazil.

After an hour of waiting, Kevin said the cat "which kept as quiet as anything for the entire time" then pounced on the caiman as it eventually swam towards the tree.

He said: "It was amazing to watch. The jaguar jumped into the water and wrestled with the caiman, eventually killing it.

"He then dragged it up the tree, like as though it had got his dinner.

"It left me speechless, the jaguar never failed to break its gaze from the caiman in the river, I couldn't believe it all happened in front of me."

The photographer added: "They both struggled for around 10 minutes but the jaguar killed it.

"I was in a boat on the river when this happened, we stopped it to watch it all take place.

"The jaguar didn't move that whole time and just watched every movement of the caiman, he never took his eyes off it."

Kevin, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, US captured these rare pictures whilst touring the area in a boat.

He continued: "It is one of those things that you hope it doesn't happen when you are resting your arms with the camera because I was watching it through a lens the whole time.

"I have honestly never seen anything like it, and I have been taking pictures of animals for a very long time."