A helpful crow in a London park offered his beak as a cleaning tool for several resident deer.
Symbiotic relationships are a fairly common occurrence in nature. There are many different creatures that benefit from one another and are able to work together for a mutual benefit.
These kinds of relationships between animals even happen between what would generally appear to be a predator and prey.
That wasn’t the case in a London park recently when a wildlife photographer captured several photos of a crow cleaning something out of the inside of a young deer’s ear.
The young London deer is entirely calm as the crow digs out whatever it found appealing in the fawn.
Even at such a young age, the London deer seems completely relaxed with the crow’s presence. That could be from an example the fawn’s parents exhibited by also remaining calm and unbothered by the bird.
In one shot, the crow can be seen perching on the father deer’s back. The deer seemed to understand that the crow meant them no harm and that they were gaining something from his task being completed.
The crow was likely grabbing ticks that had taken up residence in the fawn’s ear.
According to the photographer, the crow continued to feed while on the fawn’s shoulder for upwards of five minutes. It looks like the crow got a tasty meal in bird terms and the deer probably got relief from some very bothersome parasites.
It wouldn’t be surprising if that crow continued to look for easy meals while perching on the furry backs of these deer in London. Animals tend to be opportunistic when it comes to food and a smart crow is not going to ignore a free meal even if it is from a living source.
All photos via Daily Mail