Elephant Makes Rare Fatal Attack To Protect Her Baby

A predator got too close and paid the price in Zambia.
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This mama elephant put her foot down when a predator got too close to her calf at a watering spot in Zambia.

In a YouTube clip posted Tuesday, the protective pachyderm stomped a crocodile to death in a rare attack recorded on a cellphone. (Watch the clip below.)

Nadav Ossendryver, founder of Latest Sightings, which posted the footage, told HuffPost that in his 10 years of sharing wildlife moments, he had never seen an elephant pounce on a croc.

But the proximity of the reptile put the mother on high alert. She began trampling it and even coiled her trunk around the croc’s tail. Elephants can lift up to 770 pounds with their trunks, according to FactAnimal.com, so the croc proved to be no problem.

The tons of crushing pressure from the elephant “resulted in the inevitable death” of the crocodile, Latest Sightings wrote in the video description.

Hans Henrik Haahr, the videographer on safari who captured the moment, told Latest Sightings the attack was “shocking.”

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