18-foot crocodile 'Brutus,' bull shark clash in Australian river

By Dan Mennella

A clash between fierce prehistoric beasts in an Australian river left tourists stunned on Tuesday, AFP reported.

An 18-foot crocodile, known to locals as Brutus, went after a much smaller bull shark in the Adelaide River, and as you can see in these photos, the massive reptile emerged victorious. The showdown was photographed by tourist Andrew Paice of Sydney, who was on a tour boat with his partner, Nikki, and 7-year-old daughter.

It wasn't their first look at Brutus, Paice told ABC News.

"Earlier, we saw an 18-foot male crocodile known as Brutus leaping out of the water to eat a piece of buffalo meat held out on a pole to them."

The feeding stunt is billed is a tourist attraction, and photos of it have been cropping up for several years. Brutus is known to tour guides, and is thought to be about 80. He's missing a leg and many teeth, ABC reported.

But the showdown on Tuesday, which occurred when the boat was on its way back to port, was anything but scripted.

"I thought it was a [fish] or something," Paice said. "Then the guide took the boat in for a closer look and behold ... it was a shark."

Paice's daughter was "awestruck" by the encounter, he said, and even the tour guides were surprised.

"Our tour guides, Morgan and Harry, have been doing this for 30 years, and they have never seen anything like this."