Great Blue Heron Snatches Baby Alligator; Gator Mom Tries But Fails to Rescue Hatchling

Alligators are not always at the top of the food chain, especially when they are still babies. One photographer captured the moment when a great blue heron snatched a hatchling at the sight of a mother alligator.

Great Blue Heron Snatched a Baby Alligator

Photographer Loukik Thakre captured the moment when a hatchling on the banks of the Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida, ended between the beaks of a heron Sunday.

Thakre told Newsweek that he had been waiting for two hours and just watched the heron. The bird was reportedly quiet and sharp, caught the hatchling in a second, and flew.

According to the photographer, the mother alligator attempted to rescue her baby, but it wasn't fast enough to catch up with the heron, who flew right away after catching the hatchling. Thakre said he could feel the pain of the mommy gator.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, baby alligators are vulnerable to many predators, including raccoons, otters, wading birds like the heron, and even fish. However, the most significant predators are larger alligators.

Coleman M. Sheehy III, from the Division of Herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, previously told the outlet that large alligators consume the smaller alligators. This happens for several reasons, including the availability of food options and access to hatchlings.

Thakre said he likes to take a picture of animals catching prey. He admitted that it's sad but also nature's rule, and sometimes nature is not fair.

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What's a Great Blue Heron?

The great blue heron is North America's largest and most widespread. It can stand up to 38 to 54 inches and weigh up to six pounds. When in flight, it looked enormous with its six-foot wingspan, according to NatureMapping Program.

Great blue herons have complex diets and many food options. They feed on fish, crustaceans, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates, small mammals, and even other birds. In Washington, they hunt on land during winter, with voles making up a major portion of their winter diet.

When hunting, the great blue heron stalks its prey in shallow waters before plunging its bill into the water to capture it. It will spend about 90 percent of its waking time hunting for food, per Chesapeake Bay Program.

Great blue herons are not invincible, as crows and ravens also eat their eggs. Hawks, bears, eagles, raccoons, and turkey vultures also prey on their young and adult herons.

Herons nest and breed in colonies called rookeries with other herons. Rookeries are located in isolated areas like wooded swamps and small islands. That is to ensure that humans and predators can't easily get near them.

Males will build a nest of sticks and twigs high in the canopy of a tree. Female herons can lay three to seven eggs from March to mid-June. Both parents will incubate the eggs for about 28 days.

However, they appeared to be not the best parents because, according to the Chesapeake Bay, despite having several eggs, they usually only raised one or two young and left the others starving after hatching.

Great blue herons can live for approximately 15 years.