These photos show a warthog making an unexpected pal with two baboons that like nothing more than riding on his back.
When the animals met at Zimbabwe’s ‘Free to be Wild’ wildlife rehabilitation center, they formed an unusual friendship.
Bangwe, a baby warthog, was brought to the center after he and his sister were washed down a river during a flood, where he met Umfazi, a baboon who had previously been at the institution for a year.
After her mother was sh.ot de.ad on a farm four years ago, the infant baboon was saved when she was only a few weeks old.
Bangwe turned to Umfazi for consolation after his sister died two days after his arrival, and the two are now inseparable.
The monkey is frequently seen riding on his friend’s back, and the two even curl up together for an afternoon nap.
‘Umfazi started riding Bangwe from the beginning, as a warming and comfort thing,’ said Free to be the Wild founder and trainee vet nurse Baye Elisabeth Pigors, 24.
Soon after, the other baboons began riding him as well. They’ve kept us entertained for hours!
‘It’s incredibly funny to see them play together since neither of them realizes they’re different species.’
Of course, this becomes a conflict when the baboons rip up a tree and Bangwe becomes trapped at the bottom.
‘We believe they established a bond because they’re both extremely gregarious and affectionate creatures, and they required that close touch being in an unfamiliar habitat – they were pulled to one other,’ says the researcher.
