This Elephant 'Nose' There's A Crocodile Lurking Below (PHOTO)

LOOK: Crocodile Bit Off More Than It Could Chew

We've all been there: You try to rehydrate after a rough night, but your head is pounding so hard there might as well be a crocodile latched onto your nose.

For this elephant at the South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, that unpleasant sensation wasn't earned the night before stampeding around town; rather, it was caused by an actual crocodile that grabbed hold of his trunk at the communal watering hole.

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The image was captured by photographer Ian Salisbury, who manages a safari lodge nearby.

"One of our guests had seen a crocodile try a similar attack on another elephant earlier in the day so, camera in hand, I went to see if there might be a repeat performance," Salisbury told Caters News Agency. "The action was so quick – a couple of seconds – and fortunately I had the camera pointing in the right direction. Having spent 30 years in the African bush, I [realize] how lucky I was to catch the scene."

The elephant dismissed the crocodile, who'd clearly bit off more than he could chew, with a quick shake of his trunk. Neither animal appears to have been seriously injured in the incident.

Crocodiles aside, African elephants face a variety of threats in the wild, particularly from poachers in search of ivory and meat. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies African elephants as "vulnerable." In 2012 alone, as many as 35,000 elephants may have been killed for their ivory.

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