A giant anaconda was spotted crushing a caiman to death, coiling itself around the predator in a ‘fatal hug’.
The huge snake tightly wraps itself around the caiman as the beast seems to helplessly groan in pain.
The larger reptile thrashes its tail to try to wriggle out of the snake’s unrelenting grip, but its efforts to escape are in vain.
It was no match for the anaconda, a variety of snake which is the biggest in the world and can measure up to 30ft.
The caiman is a species related to gators in the Alligatoridae family – with adults measuring up to 13ft in length.
The reptiles are intertwined, half submerged in the water, as the snake strangles its victim
The anaconda coils tightly around the caiman, with a groaning noise being heard as the beast struggles to escape
The deadly encounter was filmed on the waters’ edge in the Amazon Rainforest in remote Brazil.
The cameraman gets perilously close to the terrifying run-in, with the snake seen peering up menacingly as it finishes off its victim.
The caiman’s eye and claws can also be seen sticking out as it faces almost certain death.
One local said: ‘Nature is mysterious. One day you’re a predator, the next you’re prey.’
There was also speculation that the groaning noise was being made by the young gator as a ‘signal to call for help from its parents.’
Another person remarked that it is possible to hear the caiman’s bones breaking at the end of the footage.
Last month, scientists announced that the giant anaconda, also known as the green anaconda, is actually two distinct species that are genetically different by 5.5 per cent.
Humans and chimpanzees are only genetically different from each other by about 3 per cent.
The reptile thrashes its tail to try to wriggle out of the snake’s unrelenting grip, but its efforts to escape are in vain
The cameraman gets perilously close to the terrifying run-in, with the snake seen peering up menacingly as it finishes off its victim
The Northern Green Anaconda’s discovery was published in a study in the scientific journal Diversity on 16 February.
Professor Jesus Rivas, the lead author of the study, explained that they first realised there was more than one species of green anaconda over 15 years ago.
Along with his wife Dr Sarah Corey-Rivas, they started to analyse samples to look for genetic differences.
Professor Rivas said: ‘I have been studying anacondas for 32 years so this begs the question of how many other species there are that we do not know about.’
He added: ‘This finding humbles the mind regarding the true diversity of South America.’
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