Animals helping animals.
Some creatures have an oddly symbiotic relationship to other life forms. Flowers and bees is one we’re all pretty familiar with and videos of remora sucking the algae from sharks’ underbellies is one of my favorite things to watch.
Well, there’s another one that now needs to be added to the list: Crows and wallabies.
Wallabies are general term for small, close relatives of the kangaroo, typically clocking in around 2-4 feet in body length with a 1-2 foot tail. They are native to Australia and New Guinea and their population is widely spread, although they are more common in remote areas.
A video from the Guba na Nature Refuge near Leyburn, Australia shows two things at once; how brutal nature can be and how sometimes friendly other creatures are to each other.
A poor wallaby with its face covered in large ticks makes its way to the only water source in the area to get a drink. You just feel so badly for this poor creature, knowing that it’s slowly getting its blood sucked while most likely being injected with who knows what bacteria.
Then out of no where, a crow perches on the side of the water bucket. At first, it seems like the two might be in some beef, but it turns out the bird is just eyeing up some delicious snacks sitting right in front of him.
In a quick and skillful movement, the crow snaps towards the wallaby and plucks a tick right of its face and gobbles it down with delight.
How cool is that? Both animals are helped by the arrangement, so if I were a wallaby (that sounds like a kid’s book) I’d perch right there and let them peck away.
If you enjoyed watching this, have no fear, because there’s plenty more videos where that came from below.
