6 otters surround crocodile at Sungei Buloh, force it to retreat despite superior size

6 otters surround crocodile at Sungei Buloh, force it to retreat despite superior size

In a classic David-versus-Goliath wildlife encounter, six plucky otters surrounded a large crocodile at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, forcing it to retreat despite its superior size.

A video of their triumph was posted in the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group by frequent contributor Rovena Chow, who was praised for the entralling content.

Otters surround crocodile when it emerges from Sungei Buloh waters

The National Geographic-worthy moment was recorded at 7.19am on Sunday (22 March) with an iPhone 16 Pro Max, Ms Chow wrote.

It starts with the otters frolicking in the water when a crocodile suddenly emerges and approaches them.

Undaunted, the otters quickly surrounded the crocodile, with one intrepid otter swimming behind it.

The crocodile turned and lurched towards the otter, but it nimbly scampered to a nearby bank for safety.

Crocodile lunges at otters, but they continue approaching

As the crocodile paused, the otters now approached it, with more otters entering the fray for support.

Then, the crocodile suddenly went on the attack, lunging towards the otters with his mouth open.

This caused the otters to swim away — but not for long, as they turned and fearlessly approached the crocodile again.

This prompted the crocodile to charge at them with its mouth open again, this time more threateningly.

But the otters simply approached yet again, after briefly evading its jaws.

Perhaps sensing the fruitlessness of this exercise, the crocodile finally slipped into the water and vanished below the surface.

Now that the coast was clear, the otters took over the water again, chirping loudly and joined by birds.

Contributor caught the encounter the moment she arrived

While netizens raved about the video, Ms Chow revealed that she was “lucky”  to have captured the encounter the moment she arrived.

A user described the otters’ actions as “prey-mobbing behaviour”, adding that it was ripe for a voiceover by famed nature broadcaster David Attenborough.

Another commenter explained that the otters would do the same to monitor lizards, as they are competition and a potential threat.

This was certainly not the first face-off between otters and a crocodile spotted in Singapore, with the critters accosting their larger rivals on several occasions.

Each time, however, the cute but gutsy otters have come out on top.

Also read: Gang Of Otters Harasses Famous Tailless Crocodile At Sungei Buloh, Surrounds It On All Sides

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Featured image adapted from Rovena Chow via Singapore Wildlife Sightings on Facebook.