Black Caiman

[Dark Jaguar]

Biologist Raphaella Coutinho

''Sometimes it's not pretty. It is the cycle of life. During a morning of monitoring wildlife we were eyewitnesses to life in motion in the dark waters of the Amazon. This Capybara in the photo was swimming distracted with her flock/group along the bank of the Madeira River, when a Black Caiman slaughtered it. This Black Caiman from South American is a top predator on the food chain and can reach 4.5 meters in length and over 300 kg. Probably due to our presence the black caiman gave up on its prey and we recorded the size of the bite which happened in seconds completely tearing off the mammal's entire front leg. We continued on to the field and hope that the black caiman had returned for its lunch.''

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