The Telegraph reports a backpacker in Australia got the fright of his life when a crocodile he was “teasing” suddenly propelled itself out of the water, nearly biting his arm off.

“The 16 foot-long saltwater crocodile came within an arm‚Äö?Ñ?¥s length of inflicting serious damage to the tourist, if not killing him. Novon Mashiah, 27, an Israeli backpacker, spotted the big crocodile during a fishing trip in the Northern Territory. Determined to have a picture taken of himself with the crocodile, he posed while leaning out of the back of his fishing boat, pointing towards the predator.

‘I began playing with it for a photo,’ Mr Mashiah said. ‘I was pointing at it when it suddenly jumped up at me - I didn’t realise that crocs were so aggressive. I was shocked - the animal clearly wanted to kill me.

‘One minute I was leaning over the boat teasing it for a picture. The next minute it burst out of the water with incredible speed … its jaws fully open. I was shaking,’ he said.”

Mr. Mashiah is clearly not the brightest bulb in the bunch, what part of the universal rule of “don’t tease wild animals” didn’t he understand?

Mashiah’s friend and fishing companion, Doron Aviguy, 22, captured the near-fatal attack from the safety of a nearby boat.