Dominator the crocodile attacks, eats smaller croc’s leg during Adelaide River Cruise tour

An ambush from the murky depths of a Top End river, a sickening pop, and a gory parade left one ‘decent-sized’ croc without a leg – all in front of shocked cruise passengers. WATCH.

An ambush from the murky depths of a Top End river, a sickening pop, and a gory parade left one “decent-sized” croc without a leg, and cruise passengers aghast.

The violent scenes left Adelaide River Cruise passengers gasping in shock on Thursday.

Business Development Manager John Dearly said the boat operators were running a “normal tour” when they came across a three-metre long crocodile.

He said the attack came shortly after the team had fed the Territory’s infamous Dominator – a six-metre monster croc.

“They were just explaining the differences between males and females and how they might pair up during the mating seasons,” he said.

“All of a sudden, Dominator’s just come from underneath – he grabbed this crocodile and did a few big spins, and (then) you hear this really loud popping sound from underwater.

“Then he comes up and he’s got this poor croc’s leg in his mouth.

“He parades it in front of the boat and just shows everyone, and then crunches it up.”

The three-metre croc moments before its leg was torn off by Dominator.

Six-metre monster croc Dominator shows the horrified tourists the smaller croc’s torn off leg before he crunches into it.

Before the encounter, Mr Dearly said the crew had suspected the smaller croc was a female, but the attack led them to believe it could have been a male competitor.

He said crocs were “highly resilient” and it was possible the limbless croc had survived the gnarly encounter.

“They resist disease and infection in the water, so as long as it hasn’t been too seriously damaged... it’ll be alright.”

Mr Dearly said although the attack were confronting, it was “the natural order of things on a river full of crocodiles”.