A combo image shows crocodile jumping out of the water.

Syed Shayaan Bakht, Gulf Today

A video of a crocodile flying out of the water to catch a mini drone hovering over has gone viral on social media platforms.

The footage shows a drone hovering over a waterbody as the curious crocodile can be seen following it.

The large reptile was probably annoyed by the buzzing noise of the drone and jumped out of the water to catch it in its mouth.

The pilot manages to manoeuvre the drone out of danger. But the footage has gone viral. 

A twitterati named @reach_anupam shared the video. He captioned it, “That was a close call! Crocs are awesome, intimidating creatures that you don't want to mess with. Interested to see the footage captured by that drone - has anyone come across it?”

The video garnered over 159,700 views on Twitter.

Social media user were quick to share their quirky comments. 

Gaurav Kumar said, “That is invasion of their privacy in human aspect. Going close to animals and taking photos and videos.”

Ashish Prabhu said, “Be thankful to gravity and fluid dynamics that this drone was saved.”

Muralidharan wrote, “Such teasing of animals should not be encouraged. I have seen similar behaviour among travelers on the Bandipur forest road. They keep teasing elephants and provoke it to chase them. This is really unfair.”

Jagan A said, “That is about 8-10 ft jump. So don't let your hand out when on river boat ride.”

The viral video has been debated online over use of technology and gadgets to disturb animals’ natural habitat.