The starling bird wipes the mouth of the deer

A photographer has just captured the moment when an African starling bird floats back to operate the ticks inside the giraffe's mouth in Tanzania.

The golden beak (Buphagus) has very short legs and very strong claws so they can cling to large mammals (like buffaloes, horses, deer) to eat parasites. skin, such as ticks, bed bugs. They also eat blood, so they often operate on the host's wound. Scientists believe that the nutritional source of the gold mine stone flute comes mainly from animal blood.

The body length of African gold mine starlings can reach 18 cm. They are mainly distributed in the vast grasslands of West Africa.

The bird only " circled " under the giraffe's mouth for about 10 seconds. (Photo: Billy Dodson) .

Billy Dodson - photographer from Williamsburg, Virginia, USA - captured the rare sight in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. Every year he comes here twice to take photos of wild animals.

' I was shooting the face of the deer in an inclined position so I could not see the bird. I have never witnessed the scene of a gold mine starling on an animal like that before , 'Dodson said.

According to Dodson, African gold mine flutes often perch on the backs of large mammals in Africa to remove the ticks and other insects that cling to the skin.

' But this bird cleaned around the giraffe's mouth for some reason. He only perched on his mouth for about 10 seconds but the deer seemed very satisfied. I think it is grateful to the bird for helping it eliminate unpleasant insects , 'he said.