A giant alligator ate a smaller six-foot one of its own kind in a gruesome video.
Footage filmed in South Carolina shows how the reptile grabs and keeps its prey in its mouth before swallowing the whole animal.
Separate videos show the small gator struggling as the bigger one keeps it underwater.
The smaller reptile tries to escape as its tail flaps weakly, but cannot fight off the bigger one.
The video was filmed in a yard in Murrells Inlet on Thursday and was published on Twitter by Taylor Soper.
He wrote: "This happened in my parents backyard today… The snack is a 6ft gator.
"My dad captures some good stuff all credit to him but he doesn’t have social media."
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Mr Soper added the small alligator actually ate a small baby last weekend, days before being killed.
He explained: "What’s really cool is we saw the one that’s getting eaten in this video eat a small baby last weekend so there’s some craziness going on over there."
The footage attracted numerous comments and shares on Twitter, with a person writing: "Wait… the gator ate another gator?!?! Thats a thing?!"
Another person added: "We did a gator tour in New Orleans and the guide said he always takes the baby gators and raises them until they are big enough to fight off the bigger ones because they eat their young."
One more said: "Drain the pond, fill with concrete and never speak of this again."
Fish and Wildlife officials explained that it is "normal behaviour" for alligators to eat each other.
FWC officer Gary Morse explained: "What alligators will typically do is they'll take that animal and stuff it some place for a week or two until it gets nice and soft and they can tear it apart."
He added: "Sometimes it can be territorial, but very often alligators are cannibalistic."
The expert said males are usually more aggressive, particularly during mating season, which takes place in May and June, with nesting in late June and July.
