Wildlife photographer captures incredible battle between anaconda and jaguar

A British wildlife photographer captured this extraordinary image while travelling in central Brazil's wetlands.

Chris Brunskill was on a boat expedition in the Panatal, situated in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, when he noticed a jaguar prowling the river bank.

After deciding to follow its progress, he realised the female jaguar was looking at an object in the water.

He said: "I was only half paying attention at this point, when she flicked her paw into the grass and out came an anaconda."

It pursued the fleeing anaconda, resulting in a ferocious battle between the two predators lasting for a minute and a half.

"With both the cat and the snake clearly visible, I had the unique opportunity to shoot as they fought for close to ninety seconds in the open, in good light on a fairly calm river, just meters from my boat."

"The snake lunged at the jaguar several times during the confrontation and managed to bite it on the nose more than once, before it was eventually subdued by the big cat with several ferocious bites to the mid-section."

Despite working as a wildlife photographer for ten years, Brunskill says he is lucky to have witnessed the event.

"This is by far the rarest of rare events in the life of the jaguar and I know of several people who have spent twenty years or more on the river and not had the good fortune to see what I saw last week."