A distressed dog being chased by other dogs escaped into a river full of crocodiles, but strangely the alligators spared him and saved him from drowning, a behavior that has continually fascinated scientists.
The story takes place near the Indian city of Bombay, where the dog, fleeing from a pack of wandering companions, found himself surrounded by crocodiles in a body of water that was fortunately shallow, Geo magazine reported.
In order to escape the pack that was chasing him, the little dog actually thought it appropriate to jump into the Savitri River, a shallow watercourse, but he found himself face to face with about ten alligators who might have made a mistake.
But then three reptiles approached the animal and, contrary to all expectations, accompanied it to the shore. An unexpected behavior intrigued scientists, who analyzed images from a video to try to understand this imprinted response of empathy.
“These crocodiles touched the dog with their snout and urged it to keep moving so it could safely return to shore and escape,” say the authors of a study published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
“What initially appeared to be a classic predatory instinct on the part of the attacker towards the unfortunate prey quickly turned out to be more docile behavior on the part of two of the three crocodiles, who led the dog away from the spot where it would have been vulnerable. “, they added.