Tourist filmed sitting on 5m-long crocodile in Australia

A Danish tourist has admitted he took his life in his hands by sitting on a large crocodile in Australia.

Niels Jensen, 22, was on safari in a wildlife park east of Darwin in northern Australia when he encountered the predator, estimated to be 4.7m (15ft) long and weighing 653kg (1428 lbs).

The wildlife management graduate is filmed enticing the large reptile, which had been relocated to the park after it was caught preying on livestock, with a wallaby carcass.

After leaving the bait on the ground and waiting for the crocodile to start eating, he astonishingly straddled the reptile's back, sitting just behind its rear legs.

He touched some of the scales on the animal's back, and, after a few moments, rose and walked away.

But a man out of shot told him to get back and give a thumbs-up, so he approached the animal for a second time, sat down again, turned towards the camera, smiled and put this thumb in the air.

Mr Jensen admitted he took life in his hands by sitting on a live crocodile for the first time.

"After seeing what a crocodile is capable of doing I don't think it was dangerous, I know [it was]," he said.

"Even with a crocodile like this that are used to humans it is a scary feeling sitting on something that could kill you in a fraction of a second," he added.

Niels, who travelled to Australia after completing his studies, admits his friends call him "Danish crocodile Dundee" for his daring social media posts with infamous wildlife.

"In my opinion I am just doing what I like. But not many people understand why I'm doing it. Most of them call me a little crazy for travelling Down Under to wrestle with crocodiles."

Tracey Duldig, of the department of tourism and culture, said: "The behaviour shown in this video is dangerous and reckless and we do not support this type of interaction with crocodiles.

"Saltwater crocodiles are large and potentially dangerous animals and we encourage everyone to be crocwise at all times."

However, the threat posed by crocodiles is often overstated.

Between 2005 and 2014, 14 people died from crocodile attacks in the Northern Territory, compared with 10 deaths in the 33 years to 2004.

In the last 10 years there have been six crocodile-related deaths in Queensland.