An invasive species of feral pig could be helping to save Australia's native crocodiles.
The saltwater crocodile has called Australia home for millions of years, but came close to extinction in the 1970s.
Meanwhile, a species of feral pig arrived Down Under with European settlers in the 1700s - with recent estimates suggesting there are 24 million across the country.
Feral pigs thrive in Australian wetlands and swamps - particularly in the north of the country - and have now spread across 40 per cent of Australia's land mass.
Scientists blamed them for widespread habitat loss and for Australia having the world’s highest rate of mammal extinctions, the New York Times reports.
But because they are the saltwater crocodiles' primary source of prey, the invasive pig species is being credited by some scientists for its increase in population.
Dr Mariana Campbell, a researcher at Charles Darwin University, said: "Crocodiles eat whatever is easiest, and feral pigs are the perfect size.
“They’re pretty lazy hunters. If you’re a crocodile, what is easiest? You stay near the bank and wait a few hours for a pig? Or you go and hunt for a shark, an animal that can swim five times faster than you?”
Frank Mazzotti, a crocodile and alligator expert from the University of Florida, added: "A pig coming down to the water’s edge is like ringing the dinner bell."
Some experts say that the pig - which can weight up to 150 pounds - has finally met its match after years of causing damage to Australia's wild terrain.
Dr Campbell and her team at Charles Darwin University took bone samples from crocodiles and compared them to ones in museums that had been taken 50 years previously.
The analysis revealed that feral pigs became the crocodile’s primary food source in recent times, whereas it used to be aquatic creatures.
Dr Campbell said she was "amazed" by the difference.
Toward the end of World War II, there had been around 100,000 saltwater crocodiles.
By 1971, there were barely 3,000, and the species was in danger of extinction.
As a result, the Australian Government banned crocodile hunting.
There are now an estimated 100,000 wild saltwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory if Australia.
Dr. Campbell insists: "If it wasn’t for the availability of feral pigs in the environment, the population wouldn’t have recovered to the same level that they have.”
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