Crocodile’s rock: After mistaking him for a lovely peaceful area to relax, a baby snapper enjoys a ride on the back of a hippo.
This is the amusing moment when a tiny crocodile mistaken a large hippo for a rock and laid over it to sunbathe.
The sassy croc climbed up the side of the wallowing hippopotamus and stretched out across its massive back to unwind.
Even when the hippo started moving, the baby crocodile didn’t notice and stayed in place for nearly 15 minutes before moving on.
But the three-ton beast didn’t appear frightened by the three-foot-long critter, who ended up relying on its back. Field guild Richard Millar captured the scene on video in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
When the crocodile appeared, Richard, 21, was just snapping the hippo in the water.
‘I came across this hippo in the water with a heron on its back,’ he explained. Then, out of nowhere, a little crocodile crept up one side and perched on its back.
‘It must have mistaken it for a rock in the water and spent some time relaxing on it.’ They need to relax in the sun since they are cold-blooded animals.
‘The hippo seemed unconcerned and did nothing to frighten the croc away.’ The crocodile shifted a little, but it stayed still for around 15 minutes.
‘In the wild, hippopotamuses and crocodiles aren’t competitors. A hippo may try to bite a crocodile if it believes its young are in danger. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For the rest of my life, I’m very confident I’ll never get another image like that.’
