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Suffice it to say it’s not easy to kill a crocodile. Ninety-five million years of evolution haven’t done it, and most animals can’t do it either.
But a few jungle predators can, and tourists caught one riveting encounter on video in an Indian national park.
T-124, aka Riddhi, is a six-year-old Bengal tigress living in Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India. In 2023, she mothered three cubs — and recently, the family garnered internet fame with a crocodile dinner.
Photo: Screenshot
Shared to the park’s official account, the clip shows the cats tearing at a large crocodile corpse near a waterway. “Tigress Riddhi and her cubs killed a crocodile,” the caption read (the video does not show the reported kill).
Bengal tigers are among several big cats known to prey on crocodiles, which are generally apex predators themselves. Jaguars can hunt two particular species of caimans, but consensus holds that it’s rare, according to India’s DownToEarth.org. It’s even more unusual to catch one on camera.
If you followed T-124 around, though, you might have a better chance. The tigress stalked a crocodile in February, but the quarry escaped into the water. She’s also a descendant of T-16, a female who earned the moniker “crocodile killer” after bagging one of the big reptiles in 2003.
Even for a Bengal tiger, crocodile hunting is risky business — the tables can turn. Don’t tell T-16 that, though. Despite losing both canine teeth in the 2003 crocodile fight, she died in 2016 at 20 years old, outliving the average Bengal by 5-10 years.