An Australian tour guide drives through a river filled with 600 crocodiles to get to work every day – and the terrifying journey frequently has him fearing for his life.

David McMahon, 36, is a head tour guide for Venture North Safaris in Australia’s Northern Territory.

‘I’ve been guiding in Northern Australia for over 15 years through some of the most remote and spectacular parts of the country,’ he told FEMAIL.

One of David’s tours see him cross the East Alligator River at Cahill’s Crossing – a deadly journey that has claimed two lives in the past.

‘I don’t think this is everyone’s idea of a commute to work – but things are a bit different up here in the Top End,’ he said.

David McMahon, 36, is a head tour guide in Australia’s Northern Territory

He then shared a short clip that showed almost 15 crocodiles monitoring his car.

‘I’m crossing the mighty East Alligator River – they’re lined up as the diamond scale mullet and barramundi are swimming up the crossing,’ he explained about the starving crocodiles.

David shared that the disparity in the name and creature occurred because English explorer Phillip Parker King couldn’t tell alligators and crocodiles apart.

‘This is truly such a wild place,’ David said, gazing out onto the deadly reptiles.

He told FEMAIL: ‘There has been many times over the years when I’ve crossed this river with my heart in my mouth!

‘The worst is at night time, and there was one occasion I had to cross it really deep when the tide had stopped and before it started rushing out again. 

‘As soon as I entered the water, the headlights went under and I had to do the crossing blind – knowing exactly what was waiting for me if I made a mistake.’

An Australian man revealed that his daily commute to work includes driving across a river filled with 600 crocodiles – and the terrifying journey frequently has him fearing for his life

But despite the frequent dose of terror, David truly loves his job.

‘I love being able to share the beauty of Northern Australia with guests from around the world,’ he said. 

‘It’s such a wild place up here and there are fewer and fewer places on the planet like this.

‘To spend so much time in the bush is a privilege I never take for granted and I honestly can’t pick a part of the job I don’t love,’ he added.

The short clip David shared showed almost 15 crocodiles monitoring his car

Many were shocked by David’s arduous commute and commended him for his bravery.

‘I’d be so afraid of doing that – too close for comfort,’ a woman said. ‘Good on you!’

‘My anxiety peaked watching that, you’re so brave,’ another added.

While others chose to combat their fear with humour.

‘That’s the road my dad crossed everyday on foot to get to school,’ one wrote.

‘At least you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam there,’ a second said. 

A stray dog that was quickly surrounded by three crocodiles as soon as it ran into their river may have thought that it wouldn’t survive another minute.

But in an astonishing turn of events, two of the crocodiles decided to nudge the young stray, which had jumped into the river to escape a pack of feral dogs, to safety with their snouts.

Experts say that instead of devouring the stray dog, the marsh crocodiles ‘guided’ it away from where the barking pack of dogs were waiting for it on the river bank in the state of Maharashtra, western India. 

‘These crocodiles were actually touching the dog with their snout and nudging it to move further for a safe ascent on the bank and eventually escape,’ the scientists wrote in a report published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. 

‘Given that the crocodile was well within the striking range and could have easily devoured the dog, yet none of them attacked and instead chose to nudge it towards the bank, implies that the hunger drive was absent.’

A stray dog that was quickly surrounded by three crocodiles as soon as it ran into their river may have thought that it wouldn’t survive another minute

But in an astonishing turn of events, two of the crocodiles decided to nudge the young stray, which had jumped into the river to escape a pack of feral dogs, to safety with their snouts.

The scientists are still unsure as to why the marsh crocodiles, which can weigh up to 1,000 pounds, didn’t see it as an opportunity to eat the dog.

But they say that marsh crocodiles, known as muggers, are not always aggressive and that their emotional intelligence could have been on display in this case.

‘Emotional empathy’, which allows a species ‘to experience feelings for another’, has not been investigated in the muggers, the scientists said. 

‘The curious case of a dog “rescued” by the group of crocodiles reported her seems more on lines of empathy than altruistic behaviour,’ they said. 

The scientists added: ‘Reptiles have been underestimated as far as animal cognition is concerned.’  

Experts say that instead of devouring the stray dog, the marsh crocodiles ‘guided’ it away from where the barking pack of dogs were waiting for it on the river bank in the state of Maharashtra, western India

The stray dog was trying to escape from a pack of feral dogs 

Marsh crocodiles are most commonly found in India and adult males can reach up to 18ft in length and weight up to 1,000 pounds.

The researchers also detailed how they made the ‘curious’ discovery that marsh crocodiles also adore marigolds. They said the muggers were often found floating and banking in the yellow flowers along Savitri river. 

They believed that this could be due to the properties of the flower, which would help protect the crocodiles from fungi and bacteria.

‘This behaviour is novel and intriguing,’ the researchers said while adding the behaviour needed further investigation.’

Winemakers painted the small Portuguese town of São Lourenco do Bairro red after two of its trucks accidentally spilled 2.2million litres of red wine down a quiet street. 

A fast-moving river of red wine flowed down a steep hill in the small town, near the coast of Portugal, after two tanks owned by Levira Distillery suddenly gave way on Sunday. 

Baffled locals looked on as the wine, nearly enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool, swept through the streets of the town. 

The spill was so massive that local officials triggered an environmental alert and were forced to divert the wine to stop it contaminating the nearby Certima River. 

Anadia Fire Department blocked off the flood and diverted it away from the river, where it ran harmlessly into a field, reports local media. 

The wine, which would nearly fill an Olympic swimming pool, flowed through the streets of São Lourenco do Bairro in Portugal

There was so much wine spilled that local officials triggered a environmental warning

Firefighters said that a basement in a home near the distillery was flooded with wine. 

Levira has since apologised, and said it later dredged the wine-soaked land. 

‘We assume full responsibility for the costs associated with cleaning and repairing the damage, having teams available to do so immediately.

‘We are committed to resolving this situation as quickly as possible.’

Though the river of wine could have caused an environmental mishap, experts have said that drinking a wide variety of red wine is good for your gut. 

Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said that drinking a wide variety of wines may have the same benefit that having a varied diet does.

‘My advice for wine lovers,’ he said, ‘is keep loving wine and still drink wine, primarily for the pleasure, but at the back of your mind think, could I be trying different bottles or varieties that might actually be healthier for me and that I might enjoy?

‘Diversity is also important – if you take the analogy from foods, having a range of different grape varieties in your diet means that you are going to be helping different gut microbes inside you and you will increase your your gut health and diversity.

‘So don’t just stick with the same wine. Get out there. Try the hundreds or thousands of different grape varieties that we generally don’t enjoy.

‘Let’s get those rare ones back on the map again, because each of those could be helping you nourish really healthy gut microbes inside you and improve your health.’

A study led by Professor Spector’s team in 2019, involving participants in the UK, US and Belgium, found people who drank red wine had a wider range of gut bacteria, which is linked to better gut health.

This was not seen for white wine, which may be because red wine has the grape skins left in for most of the fermentation process, so has high levels of polyphenols – plant compounds which are good for the gut and can reduce the inflammation in the body linked to poor health in older people.

A state park in Wyoming has beaten the odds to welcome the birth of an ultra rare white bison. 

Staff at Bear River State Park saw a ‘little white ball of fluff’ when the calf was born on May 16 weighing just 30 pounds- which is half of that of other newborns. 

It was born to one of the park’s two white bison heifers, which arrived in 2021, and it is the first to be born there. 

The sex of the calf is still unknown as getting too close to the animal would cause the herd stress.

White bison are incredibly rare throughout the US and are considered sacred in many Native American tribes.  

A state park in Wyoming has beaten the odds to welcome the birth of an ultra rare white bison

Staff at Bear River State Park saw a ‘little white ball of fluff’ when the calf was born on May 16 weighing just 30 pounds- which is half of that of other newborns

The calf was born at around 7am and it was up and feeding within 15 minutes and is healthy despite its small weight. 

It was born to a white buffalo called Wyoming Hope and staff suspect the father is a bull named Snort. 

Park superintendent Tyfani Sager said: ‘It was up and suckling on mom within 15 minutes after it was born.’

She added that it sleeps, feeds and runs around in circles in a manner often seen in cats and dogs called the ‘zoomies’. 

The white buffalo at Bear River contain Charolais cattle DNA which is what gives them their snowy fur.

This feature is rare but not as unusual as albino bison as they occur in around one in 10 million births. 

‘Most of the bison you find anymore have some cattle genetics,’ Sager told Cowboy State Daily. 

‘They were nearly hunted to extinction by the late 1800s. People got concerned about extinction and cattle inbreeding was used. A white bison birth is still fairly rare.’

White bison are incredibly rare throughout the US and are considered sacred in many Native American tribes

The white buffalo at Bear River contain Charolais cattle DNA which is what gives them their snowy fur

A white buffalo calf is ‘the most sacred living thing on Earth’ to Native American tribes including Sioux, Cherokee, Navajo, Lakota and Dakota, according to the National Parks Service.

‘Some American Indians say the birth of a white calf is an omen because the birth takes place in the most unexpected places and often happens among the poorest of people,’ it said. 

‘The birth is sacred within the American Indian communities, because it brings a sense of hope and is a sign that good times are about to happen.’ 

There has been a huge rise in the number of visitors to the park since the birth of the white buffalo. 

It usually sees around 1,000 visitors a day but this has increased by 30 per cent as people try to get a glimpse of the rare calf. 

Father and daughter plucked from river by rescuers after he tried to commit suicide with her during family row

• The distraught father attempted to drown his daughter in a river
• The man waded into the river with his two daughters after a family dispute
• But rescuers pulled the pair to safety onto a boat in China

By Belinda Robinson

Published: 11:15 EDT, 25 May 2014 | Updated: 12:27 EDT, 25 May 2014

This is the moment rescuers pull a man and his daughter onto a boat after the man attempted to commit suicide and drown his daughter in a river following a family row.

The harrowing scene unfolded in Qingjiang township of Yueqing, Zhejiang province yesterday.

The man who was identified only as Mr Wang, started walking into a river with his daughter to commit suicide after a family dispute on Saturday.

Rescue: Rescuers pull a man, fourth right and a girl, centre, onto a boat after the man attempted to commit suicide with his daughter

However, police and rescuers managed to save them both and no one was injured during the incident according to local media.

Two boats with four men can be seen surrounding the distraught father and his child as they grab him by his neck to haul him out of the river and into the boat.

But as the rescue unfolds, Mr Wang appears to fight back as the men try to pull him into the boat and he can be seen grimacing as the men struggle to lift his body weight.

As they stage their daring rescue, the boat begins to dip into the water from the weight of Mr Wang being pulled on board.

One of the rescuers can be seen on the left hand side in a long coat, holding an oar steady as he watches the rescue unfold from his wooden green and red boat.

The little girl, whose name and age are unknown, is held tightly by a man in a purple coat as she is rescued from the river.

Her rescuer clutches hold of an oar, perhaps to steady himself as he looks down at the little girl to make sure she is alright.

The men all appear to be wearing their everyday clothes, but two of the rescuers have managed to put on inflatable orange life vests for the rescue.

One man looks as though his grey shirt has become soaked through with water as he helps out with the rescue.

It is not known why Mr Wang took such drastic measures to end his life alongside his daughter – aside from reports about the family argument.

But he and his daughter are thought to be safe, according to local media reports.