A dog in India faced three crocodiles in a river and lived to tell the tale, thanks to what researchers suggest couldve been a display of emotional empathy on the part of the reptiles.

In a paper published late last month in the Journal of Threatened Taxa , scientists described the surprising incident involving a dog and a trio of mugger crocodiles also known as marsh crocodiles in the Savitri River in Maharashtra, India.

In observations for a long-term study on muggers in their natural habitat, the researchers reported that a young dog was chased into the river by a pack of feral dogs. Waiting in the shallow water were three adult crocodiles that could have easily devoured the canine.