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AssetID: 35444046

Headline: Jaguars Have Tug of War With Anaconda

Caption: A photographer has captured a jaw-dropping tug of war - between a mother and cub jaguar over an ANACONDA. Arjan Jongeneel, from the Netherlands, spotted the amazing rare scene while in Brazil last month (in September). He witnessed the mother swimming across a river with the snake, before the 5-month-old cub challenged her on the riverbank. What followed was an unbelievable tussle, stretching the snake between their clenched jaws, before the younger predator won the battle. Arjan describes the scene near Porto Jofre in Brazil’s northern Pantanal. "After a few hours looking for jaguars near Porto Jofre we came across a female jaguar and her 5 month old cub. We followed these charismatic cats for some time as they walked on the banks of the river looking for a prey. "After a while the mum and cub disappeared in the bushes. After a few minutes, there was lots of noise from the dry leaves on the ground. We were hoping for some action from mum and her cub. "We waited patiently and after a few minutes mum appeared on the edge of the river, slid down from the 2-metre high riverbank into the water. The cub followed and also went into the river. Both jaguars crossed the river. During the crossing, we noticed that the mum had something in her jaws. "As we looked closely, we saw that it was a large yellow anaconda; about 5 metres long. Swimming to her mother, the cub grabbed the anaconda with her jaws. It looked like the cub was trying to steal the prey from her mother. In the water, this is almost impossible for the cub. "We enjoyed this amazing scene and watched both animals get onto the small beach on the other side of the river. Leaving the water, both animals were hanging onto the anaconda. "The cub had plans of his/her own. On the beach, the cub was ready to ‘fight’ for the anaconda with mum. "The battle started, and both mum and cub were hanging onto the yellow anaconda, not giving in. After a while. mum let go and the cub proudly and swiftly disappeared into the bushes, proud of winning the prize. "I was so excited to witness this sighting, it looked like a rare event right in front of our boat."

Keywords: odd,oddity,offbeat,funny,LOL,quirky,weird,amazing,interesting,cool

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