Incredible moment crocodiles HELP a stray dog in their river by using their noses to get it to safety instead of eating it
- Stray dog ended up in crocodile-infested river after being chased by a pack of dogs
A stray dog who was quickly surrounded by three crocodiles as soon as he ran into the river may have thought he wouldn’t survive even a minute.
But in an astonishing turn of events, two of the crocodiles decided to snout the young stray dog, who had jumped into the river to escape a pack of wild dogs, to safety.
Experts say that instead of devouring the stray dog, the swamp crocodiles ‘led’ him away from where the barking dogs were waiting for him on the river bank in Maharashtra state, western India.
“These crocodiles actually touched the dog with their snout and nudged it to move on for a safe climb onto the bank and ultimately escape,” the scientists wrote in a report published in the Journal of Endangered Taxa.
‘Since the crocodile was well within attack range and could have easily devoured the dog, but did not attack any of them and instead chose to push it towards the bank, this implies that the hunger drive was absent.’
A stray dog who was quickly surrounded by three crocodiles as soon as he ran into the river may have thought he wouldn’t survive even a minute
But in an astonishing turn of events, two of the crocodiles decided to snout the young stray dog, who had jumped into the river to escape a pack of wild dogs, to safety.
The scientists still don’t know why the swamp crocodiles, which can weigh up to 1,000 pounds, didn’t see it as an opportunity to eat the dog.
But they say swamp crocodiles, known as muggers, are not always aggressive and their emotional intelligence could be on display in this case.
“Emotional empathy,” which allows one species to “experience feelings for another,” has not been studied in the robbers, the scientists said.
“The curious case of a dog ‘rescued’ by the group of crocodiles she reported seems more like empathy than altruistic behavior,” they said.
The scientists added: ‘Reptiles have been underestimated in animal cognition.’
Experts say that instead of devouring the stray dog, the swamp crocodiles ‘led’ him away from where the barking dogs waited for him on the riverbank in Maharashtra state, western India.
The stray dog tried to escape from a pack of wild dogs
Swamp crocodiles are most commonly found in India and adult males can grow up to 5.5 meters in length and weigh up to 1,000 kilos.
The researchers also explained how they came to the ‘curious’ discovery that swamp crocodiles also love marigolds. They said the robbers were often found floating and swinging among the yellow flowers along the Savitri river.
They believed this could be due to the properties of the flower, which would help protect the crocodiles from fungi and bacteria.
“This behavior is novel and intriguing,” the researchers said, adding that the behavior warrants further investigation.”