15 brutal wildlife photos showing wild animals at their most ferocious

This category spans apex predators like lions and crocodiles, formidable giants such as hippos and elephants, and even tiny but lethal vectors like mosquitoes and assassin bugs.

Brutality in nature takes many forms, from teeth, claws, and venom to overwhelming numbers or the ability to spread deadly infections.

15 brutal snake photos showing just how lethal and deadly their killing methods can be when they strike
The biggest fight on Earth: Brutal BBC footage shows 30 male humpback whales hunting down one female – some may even die in the process

Confrontation between African Elephant and Baboon/Credit: Getty Images

A full grown male lion is on the back of a Cape Buffalo with the female lions blocking its way — An adult male lion is on the back of a Cape Buffalo with the female lions blocking its way.

White-backed vultures scavenge on a wildebeest stomach in the Maasai Mara. Credit: Getty Images

Alaskan brown bears in an intense fight — Two adult Alaskan brown locked in an intense battle along a shallow creek/Credit: Getty Images

Two hippos, Hippopotamus amphibius, fight each other on land, one with his jaws wide open, the other with bloodied mouth and flanks./Credit: Getty Images

Western white-bearded wildebeest in the jaws of a crocodile — Western white-bearded wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus mearnsi) in the jaws of a Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) in river, Mara Triangle, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Narok, Kenya/Credit: Getty Images

Moose defends calf from attacking wolves — Cow moose defends her newly born calf from the Grant Creek wolf pack in Denali National Park, Alaska/Credit: Getty Images

Sub-adult black back gorillas fighting — A pair of black-back mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) playing and fighting in the forest, Parc de Volcanos, Rwanda/Credit: Getty Images

Fighting Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) on the snow. Arctic tundra, Canada./Credit: Getty Images

Viper eating a bird, Indonesia/Credit: Getty Images

Mosquito close-up — Mosquito piercing skin/Credit: Getty Images

Two black rhinos fighting in dust — Two black rhinos fighting/Credit: Getty Images

Assassin bugs or kissing bugs as they are also known, can carry Chagas disease. © ViniSouza128/Getty — Assassin bugs or kissing bugs as they are also known, can carry Chagas disease. /Credit: Getty Images

Shark attacking seal — Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) breaching in an attack/Credit: Getty Images

A damselfly attacks moth in the in the Cohen’s Fields grasslands. © Matthew Maran. — A damselfly attacks moth in the in the Cohen’s Fields grasslands/Credit: Matthew Maran.

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15 brutal wildlife photos showing wild animals at their most ferocious

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