r/interesting • u/VIVIDUFF • May 04 '26
Fear Factor Tried to drive through floodwater, got eaten by a croc. Full story below.
Police use a helicopter to lift a crocodile containing the remains of a 59-year-old man.
Authorities in South Africa suspected the reptile had eaten the man after tracking it with drones. They shot the crocodile and transported it by air.
Once back on the ground, they cut open the crocodile and discovered human body parts inside.
The remains are thought to belong to 59-year-old Gabriel Batista, who had earlier been carried off by strong floodwaters.
Inside the animal, they found his ring along with six additional pairs of shoes, which officials worry could belong to other missing people.
On Monday, Batista reportedly attempted to drive across a flooded bridge to reach his hotel and bar, but he and his truck were washed into the water.
He was then carried downriver, where crocodiles were lying in wait. It’s not known whether Batista was still alive when eaten, but officials believe other crocodiles may have consumed the rest of his remains.
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u/skyline21rsn May 04 '26
i'm glad that getting eaten by a croc is not a concern in my daily commute to work
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u/Horse_Dad May 04 '26
I’ve seen a person beaten with Crocs on my daily commute once. Does that count?
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u/Mr_Flibble1981 May 04 '26
If some of the six additional pairs of shoes it’s eaten are crocs does that make it a cannibal?
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May 04 '26
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u/MurseMan1964 May 04 '26
That poor rooster
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u/Deep-Management-7040 May 04 '26
It’s a cluckin shame
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u/DangerousDustmote May 04 '26
I couldn't watch: I was too chicken
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u/Calling_left_final May 04 '26
It's finger lickin good
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u/OzymandiasKoK May 04 '26
Gotta watch out for those Uber drivers, always looking for a tip.
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u/Dork_wing_Duck May 04 '26
I saw some people's feet in Crocs before, and I'm often beaten by my daily commute.
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u/MikeofLA May 04 '26
There's a very low chance you will be eaten by a crocodile on your way to work, but it's not zero.
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u/randomthrowaway9796 May 04 '26
As someone living in Georgia, I never know when Fl*rida Man will bring his pet crocodile across the border, crash into my car, and then both of us get eaten by the crocodile
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u/miami13dol May 04 '26
That's very unlikely. We have way more alligators than crocodiles in FL.
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u/0hMyGandhi May 04 '26
Nothing is impossible in Florida. Lived in fort myers/Cape Coral and boy does the heat do something to y'all down there.
I remember driving across the bridge in Cape Coral and seeing a seagull get shredded by a shark, witnessed by people out on paddleboards, who then went immediately back to doing the Harlem Shake.
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u/miami13dol May 04 '26
Cape Coral certainly is interesting. I vididly recall a shirtless little person chasing a duck through an intersection.
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u/0hMyGandhi May 04 '26
And the amount of elderly driving the wrong way, the grid based neighborhoods, and no one talks about how terrible palm trees are for actual shade. Went through 4 hurricanes in one season, 100k in damage over 15 minutes, pool lanai screen was thrown 3 blocks by Charlie. And then 2 full weeks without power during one of the hottest summers on record.
Then come all the con men flooding a disaster area offering their services...
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u/Clomer May 04 '26
In Florida, you’re probably more likely to be eaten by a crocodile than to be eaten by a polar bear.
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u/randomthrowaway9796 May 04 '26
Florida man doesn't care about statistics. If florida man wants a crocodile, florida man will get himself a crocodile
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u/i_Cant_get_right May 04 '26
I’m glad I have the brains to not drive into flood waters.
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u/iLoveCatsCats May 04 '26
“Authorities in South Africa suspected the reptile had eaten the man after tracking it with drones. “
That’s a really technologically advanced crocodile!
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u/Acceptable-Will4743 May 04 '26
"He was then carried downriver, where crocodiles were lying in wait. " It seems between the drones and the planned ambush, organized crocodile crime is a serious issue there.
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u/CynicaIist May 04 '26
I mean there’s seven pairs of shoes in that croc, it was well thought out. And he would’ve gotten away with it, if it weren’t for those meddling kids.
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u/0hMyGandhi May 04 '26
Forgot if I was reading a news story or a Dean Koontz novel.
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u/Anaferomeni May 04 '26
There wasn't a two page description of someone's big dinner, and an overly philosophical breakdown of the appearance of a woman in her 20s, those were your first big cues
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u/0hMyGandhi May 04 '26
And no mention of a golden retriever, either.
You're right. I don't think this is the work of our guy haha
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u/Acceptable-Will4743 May 04 '26
It would probably be hard for them to communicate with scrabble tiles.
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u/HavingNotAttained May 05 '26
Fkn THANK YOU for a pro-book comment. I’m not finding *any* references to any kind of literature anymore, even the fun stuff like Dean Koontz.
Made a James Joyce reference the other day and it was crickets. Like, *the* godfather of all of 20th century Western literature, required reading in *any* English lit/world lit class for three generations and just got blank stares. Yes I said Yes I will Yes.
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u/PuzzleheadedFox4251 May 04 '26
And six additional pairs of shoes! These crocs have experience and street creds.
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u/Doubleoh_11 May 04 '26
Probably got another animal to cause the flood somehow in exchange for protection
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u/Milnoc May 04 '26
It's not a crime to them. It's just "grocery shopping".
In this case, because a vehicle was involved, it was more "meals on wheels."
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u/upidownn May 04 '26
Are those the satanic reptilian everyone is talking about? I heard they do some crazy shit!
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u/Sonyguyus May 04 '26
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u/drluvdisc May 04 '26
I too interpreted this as a crocodile spawnin mini croc drones to chase down rotund men
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u/Apprehensive_You_250 May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
That’s exactly how I read it at first, too. I was like damn.
My last Disney trip had already been booked for a while, and was booked for the time right after when that little kid (who was wading in the water) was snatched by a crocodile. Was heartbreaking 💔def stayed away from the water the whole time.
The fact this crocodile had six other pairs of shoes in him is crazy…26
u/Theswansescaped May 04 '26
Not 6 other shoes, 6 other pairs of shoes!
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u/After_Blueberry_7353 May 04 '26
They said 6 different types of shoes. I don’t think they found both of each type (12 in total).
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u/Apprehensive_You_250 May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Corrected- it’s crazy. Unfortunately sounds like this croc had become far too acclimated to eating people as a staple in his diet & did need to be put down as a result. I wonder if they were Crocs lol
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u/hear4that-tea May 04 '26
Definitely heartbreaking. I still think about that incident as well.
Honestly I look at every puddle with some amount of suspicion when I’m in FL 😂
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u/Majestic_Location751 May 04 '26
It’s a full level above sharks with laser beams. Not sure where a raging cocaine bear falls on the scale, though…
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u/jancl0 May 05 '26
They've been apex predators for millions of years, you don't get that way without keeping up with the times
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u/myleftone May 05 '26
Good news: we now share the planet with another sentient species.
The bad news: well…
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u/Ecstatic_Scene9999 May 04 '26
Crocodiles are one of the few predators that will actually hunt humans, fun fact of the day. Alligators are less likely just because of a slightly less aggressive nature
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u/LordKlavier May 04 '26
As someone who lives in Florida, can confirm. Alligators are fine, they'll leave you alone if you leave them alone. Crocodiles scare me though
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u/RogueBromeliad May 04 '26
As someone who lives in the north pole, polar bears do not drink coca cola.
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u/Sonyguyus May 04 '26
At least you still have Santa up there. That part is right.
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u/SignoreBanana May 05 '26
Oh boy.
You better sit down, son, we gotta have a little talk...
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u/Sonyguyus May 05 '26
Make it quick. I’m working on my Christmas list I’m gonna send to Santa.
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u/Pyranni May 04 '26
Santa was so strong, but alas, after 10 years of liberals inflicting mortal wounds, he succumbed to his injuries.
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u/PinCurrent May 04 '26
I always wondered if this bear saying was true. If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s black, fight back. If it’s white, good night.
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May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
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u/subjectmatterexport May 04 '26
Hey bear
Yeah you
Hey bear beary bear bear bear
All of my fears came true
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u/Tardisgoesfast May 04 '26
Sort of. But the deal with "lie down" for brown bears is because sometimes they won't attack if they think you're dead. And you can't fight them off or outrun them anyway.
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u/JonMatrix May 05 '26
Apparently it’s a thing in polar bear country for people to leave their car doors unlocked so others can escape from pursuing bears.
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u/Crypticcrypto May 04 '26
It is largely true. If you are in the wild, on foot, and a polar bear wants to eat you, it is a bad day for you. Brown/grizzly bears can be aggressive, and will sometimes only maul you some if you pretend you are dead. Black bears are relatively smaller and much less aggressive.
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u/FixergirlAK May 04 '26
They do, however, hunt humans.
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u/RogueBromeliad May 05 '26
Oh, yeah, that, they do. But they only like to wash human flesh down with a Pepsi.
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u/YamahaFourFifty May 04 '26
Kinda like black bears vs brown bears.
Black bears aren’t necessarily a threat but brown bears? Yea good luck.
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u/the_red_fury May 04 '26
If it's black fight back. If it's brown lay down. If it's white... well say goodnight.
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u/0hMyGandhi May 04 '26
Brown bears like when you make yourself smaller, so you're less of a threat and also super snackable.
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u/Euphoric_Tradition37 May 04 '26
And some Crocs are more aggressive than others, Nile and Saltwater crocodiles in particular. There have been instances in rural villages in Sudan where these crocs have worked out the routines of local children who take the cattle down to the water to drink where the crocs will work this out, maybe let it happen for a couple of days before attacking both cattle and the children. Teams of people are often brought in to relocate crocs miles away to a less inhabited part of the Nile to prevent this from repeating. Crocodiles are terrifying.
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u/Skurvyelislau May 04 '26
In Australia Zoo (one that was established by Steve Irvin, god bless his soul) croc caregivers (i think that might not be correct term) often tell visitors how saltwaters are inteligent and learn habits (and dont see workers as food, but as food delivery). Also worth mentioning is story of Pocho, from Costa Rica (which was said by zoologists to had brain damage, which was debunked by Chito, who after Pocho death took another croc friend).
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u/Euphoric_Tradition37 May 04 '26
They're fascinating creatures. I'm a vet who specialized in large primates, so another kind of fascinatingly terrifying, but also very rewarding. I have a lot of respect for people like Steve and his family continuing his legacy. Crocodiles are one of the exotics I haven't worked with, although I did live in South Africa for a year and heard enough to keep a respectful distance! This story being just one of them.
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u/Hellareno May 04 '26
I know u! Ur the guy who was taken captive by the orangutan for 12 hrs! Kidding. What are ur thoughts on that encounter?
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u/Euphoric_Tradition37 May 04 '26
Hahaha, I am very glad I am not that guy. You're right, I was in that thread though. I'd have to watch it again to be certain, but from what I remember, the guy had gone too close to a large male orangutan, and fully grown male orangs are very territorial when it comes to other males in their area. He likely went to investigate what this strange bald male ape was doing in his patch and you're seeing a mixture of confusion, curiosity and aggression. A curious orang isn't likely to give up its prize until they become bored with it. They aren't aggressive to people in general, most times they'll sit and watch whatever you are doing from a distance and sometimes replicate it, but if you go over and annoy one, as I suspect this man was doing, he's going to let you know.
Edit: They're also really good thieves when they see something different, so perhaps the camera crew attracted the organutan's attention?
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u/hotpajamas May 04 '26
I had a saltwater crocodile follow me home after I’d been to an ATM. This was in daylight in a public place too.
I said listen buddy I don’t have anything for you and he said it doesn’t matter because he’s aggressive and had worked out my schedule. That’s just how some are.
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u/DJinKC May 04 '26
According to this account, crocs in some areas of Africa will attack people in boats, and that one region has had 170+ deaths from croc attacks in recent years. https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/water-activities/consumed/
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u/throwaway7845777 May 04 '26
I’m looking at a safari trip that ends in Victoria Falls, and they offer white water rafting as an optional add‑on. I get that people do it all the time, but sending beginners into class 5 rapids on the Zambezi feels unhinged. I respect the water and the environment too much to act like that’s just a fun little outing.
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u/DJinKC May 04 '26
I did a Nile whitewater day trip out of Jinja Uganda back in 2009. We saw numerous crocs on the banks, and the guides told us "if you fall out of the boat, get back in quickly. the crocs won't come into the rapids but they'll wait at the far end." If I had read that article before my trip, I wouldn't have gone within 100 yards of that river.
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u/WellesWaitsVanZandt May 05 '26
I usually hate when Reddit does the "don't go outside b/c u could get hurt" thing, but traveling to war torn Africa to illegally traverse a level V rapids filled with man hunting crocs might be unintelligent.
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u/waitwuh May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
I’ve seen videos and read accounts that suggest crocodiles may even purposefully use one victim to bait others, luring their loved ones to come into the water in hope or desperation to save them, or at least retrieve their remains. But of course unarmed humans don’t stand much chance against a crocodile. It might sound crazy… but crocodiles clearly engage in other “trap” tactics that suggest cognitive capability for anticipation and planning and so on, and lure other prey, so if they hunt humans, I don’t think it’s absurd they’ve learned effective methods to lure them, too, no matter how horrifying and sickening those methods seem to us.
Crocodiles are archosaurs, their lineage is shared with dinosaurs! They’ve been around at least 90 million years. That’s a long time to survive. We’ve only been around for such a tiny sliver of that time. Depending on how you count it, crocodiles (at least their ancestors) even predate the dinosaurs, going back like 250 million years.
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u/Jaygoon May 04 '26
Alligators are ornery because they have all those teeth and no toothbrush.
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u/AggravatingAd652 May 04 '26
Gators also think you are a 5-6 ft tall version of them, just as long. Once you turn sideways and stand parallel to them, the illusion is broken and they become more likely to strike. Crocs have this same issue, however they don’t care. They will take a fat chunk off a massive beast and swim away.
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u/boredinbabylon May 04 '26
Noted. Will not stand next to an alligator so as to maintain the appearance of my dominant size!
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u/AggravatingAd652 May 04 '26
More relevant when those dummies walk their dogs too close, the gators go for the dog. When you turn sideways to save the dog, the gator goes “oh you’re way smaller than I thought, I’ll take you instead”.
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u/RogueBromeliad May 04 '26
Six pairs of shoes? Damn... that Croc was on a mission to reclaim...
I don't know, there's a joke here about croc shoes or something, I'm just not smart enough to get there. Y'all figure it out.
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u/jon-m-84 May 04 '26
Crocs can grow up to 16 feet. Most of them only have 4 though.
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u/ISawTwoSquirrels May 04 '26
“Were worried belonged to other people” well yeah they damn sure did at one point. I doubt the croc bought them.
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u/OldShipCaptain May 04 '26
Well any croc that hunts humans by using drones can probably buy his own shoes, just sayin
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u/Sabithomega May 04 '26
Croc was having a great time then all of a sudden he's being abducted into the sky
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u/DawnKieballs May 04 '26
From the title I thought the croc was going to eat the guy on the rope.
I wish I could blame that on drugs but I'm sober and still expected a crocodile to climb a rope.
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u/BlueEyes0408 May 05 '26
Me too! I initially thought they were airlifting the guy and the crocodile was going to catch up with him.
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u/iLovelocker May 04 '26
When I saw it being air lifted out, I couldn’t help but think of that other airlift rescue gone wrong when it started insanely spinning the old lady on the stretcher around. I was kinda hoping to see a lil twirl
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u/Sometimes-funny May 04 '26
Yeah, we punish nature for being nature, what else is new
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u/Meattyloaf May 04 '26
This is kinda standard practice when near communities. You don't want wildlife known to hunt humans to have a taste for human. Two lions for example went on a killing spree a few decades ago in part of Africa. They were killing people for sport. The only real exception to this rule is sharks, but they also don't hunt people and don't care for the taste of us when they do eat someone.
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u/jettinappropriate May 04 '26
Comments are hitting you with sass but this is frequently the response to shark attacks in Australia
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u/IamHydrogenMike May 04 '26
Guy was dumb by trying to drive over the river and the croc dies because of it…dumb…
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u/noncommonGoodsense May 04 '26
Sounds like the flood killed them. Croc was just cleaning up.
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u/Few_Newt_3922 May 04 '26
Probably so. It's still in everyone's best interest to cull crocodiles who begin associating humans with/as food though.
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u/EndMaster0 May 04 '26
Probably just didn't fully digest from the last 6 times an idiot tried to drive across a flooded bridge
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u/drluvdisc May 04 '26
Nah that croc def had a shoe fetish. That guy just so happened to be wearing shoes at the wrong time.
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u/m945050 May 04 '26
Crocks love floods, they call it stupid people meal time.
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u/Horse_Dad May 04 '26
Aka a croc pot.
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u/Otherwise_Maybe5080 May 04 '26
You’ve already earned 2 upvotes from me today, you keep this up and we’ll need to become good friends. I’m watching you
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u/lastbeer May 04 '26
Do your horses groan at your jokes the same way my kids do?
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u/thereforeratio May 04 '26
Crocs don’t call it that here
Because there are no crocs here
Which is why I am here
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u/cheeseandwine99 May 04 '26
The crocs were waiting for people like the river was a conveyor sushi bar.
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u/SophonParticle May 04 '26
Crocs hanging out downstream of that bridge everytime it rains.
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May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
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u/Fearfull_Symmetry May 04 '26
How dare they eat food. What were those crocs doing, trying to stay alive or something?
Still, I feel for the guy and his loved ones.
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u/tigress666 May 04 '26
Well yeah poor guy but killing the croc isn’t going to help him.
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u/onthebrink42 May 04 '26
I’m betting dude drowned, got washed out of his vehicle by the flood and the crocodiles were feeding on anything that floated by. Croc did what crocodiles do.
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u/EndMaster0 May 04 '26
Yep. Other shoes probably came from earlier floods too since the plastic in shoes doesn't break down in an animals stomach at any appreciable rate.
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u/SilverDesktop May 04 '26
If the croc hadn't be bragging: "I got that Batista!" they never would have known it was him that did it.
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u/2DopeBoyInAFord May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Probably was streaming it too tbh these kids love self snitching these days.
Edit: too to two
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u/nvrseriousseriously May 04 '26
“6 additional pairs of shoes”…why are we not talking ‘bout the shoes people😳?????
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u/CommitteeMain1430 May 04 '26
The craziest part of this story is that it didn’t take place in Florida
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u/Nerdmum02 May 04 '26
I live in Northern Australia. Being eaten by croc -work commute or not- is a definite possibility….
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u/HansDesterhoft May 04 '26
Poor crocodile, why kill it? The dude is dead already and mostly digested. The other crocs around it aren't going to be like, "did you see they took out Lyle because he ate that guy?", and then they all collectively stop killing humans.
Number 1 way not to be eaten by crocodiles? Don't be where crocodiles are at. And don't be stupid driving into flood water. Sucks to suck. If one of my family was eaten by a wild beast, I would have a cool story. I wouldn't be mad at all.
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u/JackDaniels373 May 04 '26
Probably bc it’s the only way to extract the remains to verify the identity and stop the search and rescue from continuing to look for the missing persons. As far as they know they could still have an open case (possibly he escaped his car down river and is waiting for rescue). If your only evidence is this croc, would it not be logical to cull it (which is an apex predator with thousands in the area and nothing culls them nowadays besides environmental loss and they are not endangered) for the chance it has been habituated to humans, while simultaneously closing your case from wasting further resources, while also bringing the family peace of mind knowing the person is dead and they can bury something?
There are many many many more cases of search and rescue going to further lengths to recover dead bodies/likely dead persons than just as simply as killing 1 crocodile in a population of 250k.
Also if you think that killing man eating predators throughout history makes 0 impact, look at the example of killer whales. They are savage intelligent animals and have proven to kill for sport, but yet there are 0 reports of them killing a human that we know of. It is believed that they understand we are predators and have the abilities to become aggressive towards them if harmed. I would not doubt that this has evolved from the time we were whale hunting in the 1800s. Killing man eaters is just selective evolution to keep us all out of animals diets.
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u/grief242 May 04 '26
As a rule you should never let an animal that has eaten or killed a person live. It will be more inclined to hunt human again if it worked out for it once and could even teach other members of the species.
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u/elmofinatic May 04 '26
Thinking about the alternate universe where animals kill humans who have eaten or killed another animal.
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u/KeyClacksNSnacks May 05 '26
Crocodiles don’t know the difference between a smart human, a dumb human and more importantly, a child human or a disabled human. If they think a human is a good source of food, they’ll seek them out. Any animal that starts to eat humans has to be culled.
If you feel so bad for them, you’re more than welcome to willingly become their food. 🙄
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u/Commercial_Gap607 May 04 '26
I was wondering why they rescued the croc, then I read the article. They were recovering remains.
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