Jaguar struggles to drag caiman crocodile kill from the river in Brazil's Pantanal

In Brazil, the Pantanal is home to jaguars, caiman, capybara, giant anteaters, tapir, and hundreds of species of birds and other animals. It is the world's largest tropical wetland and the world's largest flooded grasslands. The struggle to survive is as real and as dramatic here as anywhere else in the world. Huge caiman (crocodile family) cruise the wetlands and occupy the shoreline, feeding on fish and smaller animals and birds. They are a top predator here and they fear few animals. But they are hunted and preyed upon by the jaguar, the undeniable apex predator on this continent.
The jaguar is a formidable cat with a huge head and powerful jaws that hold an incredible bite force. The jaguar can bite through an animal's skull to deliver a deadly blow.
Jaguars measure up to 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) and have a weight of up to 158 kg (348 lb). It is the biggest cat species in the Americas and the third largest in the world. Here, in the Pantanal, they are the undisputed rulers and they patrol the shorelines and wetlands without fear. Only another jaguar could take down a healthy, adult jaguar.
This jaguar pounced on and killed this full-grown caiman at the water's edge, grabbing it by the throat and head, killing it quickly. A group of tourists in a boat arrived to witness the caiman's final moments as the jaguar held it down on the riverbank. The huge cat breathed heavily, exhausted from the struggle and the effort required to drag the caiman from the water. The caiman is much longer and is nearly as heavy as the jaguar. The jaguar knows that the caiman cannot be eaten on the narrow ledge without interference. She drags it along the river to a spot where the bank above is more easily reached. After resting, she jumps up, turns to grab the caiman again and then drags it up and over the ledge, into the jungle where she can eat it in peace.
The caiman will be more than a meal for this big cat. She will gorge on the carcass and then stash it and guard it for a few days, eating several times. When she has eaten her fill and decided to move on, smaller cats, birds, and scavengers of all sorts will move in for their share of the remains. Nothing will go to waste here in the Pantanal.
To see a battle such as this is both beautiful and horrific as nature shows it has a harsh and unforgiving side. The balance between predator and prey is a delicate one and it can change in an instant as this caiman found out.