Brave Otter Faces Off With Crocodile At Sungei Buloh, Chases It Away From Sandbar

Otter Has Dramatic Face-Off With Crocodile At Sungei Buloh

The mere sight of a crocodile is more than enough to scare most humans away. Yet in a recent encounter at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a brave otter intruded onto a sandbar seemingly to chase away a resting crocodile.

The crocodile attempted to scare the otter away, but the feisty mammal was having none of it. Eventually, the crocodile gave up and abandoned the sandbar.

Otter challenges enormous crocodile for sandbar at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

On Monday (4 Sep), a Facebook user named Serene Ong took to the Singapore Wildlife Sightings group to share the estuarine crocodile sighting.

The estuarine crocodile, better known as the saltwater crocodile, is one of the largest crocodile species in the world. They can occasionally be sighted in Singapore’s wetlands and coastal areas.

Although Serene had seen wild crocodiles before, this one was particularly large.

With rows of rigid scutes and a titanic tail, the crocodile was fearsome yet beautiful to look at. In Serene’s pictures, the crocodile was seen relaxing on the sandbar with its mouth open, showing rows of sharp teeth.

With such size and lethal ‘weapons’, it seems nothing would dare tread near it or bother it.

Nothing except an otter.

Fierce face-off between otter & crocodile

At about 2.05pm, the otter clambered atop the sandbar and initiated ‘contact’ with the crocodile.

The annoyed crocodile turned and snapped at the otter with its deadly jaws, which caused Serene to feel “very worried for the otter”.

Speaking to MS News, Serene theorised that the otter wanted the sandbar for itself and seemingly wasn’t in the mood to share.

The staredown lasted for less than two minutes. In the end, it was the crocodile that blinked first and gave up. It slinked off the sandbar and retreated into the green waters beneath.

Having won the face-off and with the sandbar all to itself, the otter decided to just lepak.

It laid on its back, sunbathing on the sand and grass like a human on the sofa after a long day at work.

Animal lovers wowed by dramatic encounter

Speaking to MS News, Serene shared that this was her first time seeing an otter in a face-off with a crocodile.

The suspenseful showdown between the fearsome giant and fearless mammal also wowed other animal lovers, with many praising Serene’s crisp photographs and the plucky otter’s bravery.

Another pitched in that otters never feared crocodiles, with the reptiles electing to leave them alone. Even so, the OP likened the otter’s actions to playing “dices with death”.

As the old saying goes, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog”. The otter had the courage and the attitude to make up for the physical disadvantage, and it was rewarded with the sandbar all to itself.

In another showcase of the boldness of otters, several invaded a pond at a Bukit Merah HDB and ate seven koi fish.

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Featured image adapted from Serene Ong on Facebook.