Snake eats crocodile in battle at Australian lake

A snake has defeated a crocodile in an epic five-hour battle at a lake in Australia which left onlookers shocked as the python slowly devoured its prey.

The clash between a large water python and a three-foot fresh water crocodile occurred at Lake Moondarra near Mount Isa, a remote town in the north-west of the state of Queensland.

In remarkable images captured by Tiffany Corlis, a local who was watching on, the python can be seen strangling and eating the crocodile, whose outline can then be seen inside the snake.

Ms Corlis said the crocodile tried to fight but was no match for the python.

"(The crocodile) was fighting at the start, it was trying to keep its head out of water and survive,” she told ABC News. “But as the morning progressed you could tell both of them were getting a little weaker as the struggle was going on, finally the croc sort of gave in."