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Chomp! Fish Snatches Bird In Flight: VIDEO

The Smithsonian Channel doesn't call it "the ferocious tigerfish" for nothing.

It's been clear for ages that the African tigerfish is a vicious predator. Just check out those teeth.

Now researchers in South Africa say they've got video that proves something else that's really amazing about "Africa's answer to the piranha":

It can leap from the water to snatch a bird — and not a feathered snack that's just floating or standing around in shallow water. We're talking about a fast-flying swallow. Take a look at the clip, which Nature Newstream has helpfully presented in both real time and slow motion.

It's thought to be the first evidence of a freshwater fish "catching birds on the wing," the BBC says.

The researchers' work is published in the latest Journal of Fish Biology.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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