Crocodiles rescue the dog that fell into the water. Scientists surprised by the rare case

A stray dog ??jumped into a river with crocodiles and its fate could easily be guessed. However, the scenario turned out to be completely different. Two of the crocodiles pushed the quadruped who had jumped into the river to escape a pack of wild dogs.

Experts say that instead of devouring the stray dog, the crocodiles "led" him away from where the pack of barking dogs awaited him on the bank of a river in the state of Maharashtra, in western India.

"These crocodiles were actually touching the dog with their nose and urging it to move further for a safe climb to shore and escape," the scientists wrote in a report published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. "The crocodiles could have easily devoured the dog, yet none of them attacked it and instead chose to push it towards the shore, implying that the hunger stimulus was absent."

Scientists are still not sure why the crocodiles did not see the incident as an opportunity to eat the dog.

But they say that crocodiles of this type are not always aggressive as they add that their emotional intelligence may have appeared in this case.

"Emotional empathy," which allows one species to "experience feelings for another," has not been investigated in these crocodiles, the scientists said.

Swamp crocodiles are most commonly found in India and adult males can reach up to 5.4 meters in length.

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