Tanja Brandt is a German photographer who has dedicated her career towards photographing animals and wildlife.
In one of her most recent projects, Brandt shot photographs of a highly unlikely pair of friends – Ingo, the Belgian shepherd; and Poldi (Napoleon), the one-year-old owlet.
Brandt describes the relationship between Ingo and Poldi as somewhat of a ‘protector-protected’ relationship. Ingo is a guardian for Poldi, whom Brandt states “doesn’t know how to live free”.
Poldi didn’t hatch until two days after his six brothers and sisters, and has always been very vulnerable due to his size. Ingo, on the other hand, comes from a family of strong and oftentimes ruthless police dogs.
Ingo is very protective over the year-old owlet, and their bond is as strong off-camera as it appears in Tanja’s photographs.
“They respect each other and they can read each other.”
Even though Ingo is physically stronger and protective over him, it is clear that the Poldi also takes care of his canine companion. Their friendship is ultimately mutual – they love and care for one another – and this is clear in Brandt’s photographs.
In one of her most recent projects, Brandt shot photographs of a highly unlikely pair of friends – Ingo, the Belgian shepherd; and Poldi (Napoleon), the one-year-old owlet.
Brandt describes the relationship between Ingo and Poldi as somewhat of a ‘protector-protected’ relationship. Ingo is a guardian for Poldi, whom Brandt states “doesn’t know how to live free”.
Poldi didn’t hatch until two days after his six brothers and sisters, and has always been very vulnerable due to his size. Ingo, on the other hand, comes from a family of strong and oftentimes ruthless police dogs.
Ingo is very protective over the year-old owlet, and their bond is as strong off-camera as it appears in Tanja’s photographs.
“They respect each other and they can read each other.”
Photos: Tanja Brandt
Even though Ingo is physically stronger and protective over him, it is clear that the Poldi also takes care of his canine companion. Their friendship is ultimately mutual – they love and care for one another – and this is clear in Brandt’s photographs.
Strange bed fellows, but cute as heck.
@Kavika :
Strange bed fellows, but cute as heck.
They are cute. Love the pics. I've seen these animals paired up before as friends. Knowing how much we both love the weiner dog, you might enjoy this .
Great video John....Loved it.
Great sweatshirt Kavika. So very true on all those statements. I love that too. Why do they not know their size is a wonder to me. My Critter used to go after St. Bernards with absolutely no Fear. Critter's pal was our Dobie named Kai, both black and tan, a mini and a maxi. When Critter was through playing, she then sent Kai on her way sharply. Course you could't see the tail between her legs, but she ran.
Really a fun and educational/inspirational article.
Any dog that is bread (as in a hot dog bun) to go after badgers in their den, has no fear and probably never will under any circumstances.
Happy that you enjoyed the article John.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
Adorable pictures of two adorable Friends of the heart, proving that love knows no boundaries. (smile)
Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful and inspiring photos.
Happy that you enjoyed them RW.
OMG.. they are just too cute!! I Wuv them!
They will be visiting the Perrie household in the next couple of weeks...LOL
The last photo in the series is my favorite.
I can't open the photos. Can you post the link?
Here it is Buzz....
I just tried the link and all I get is a blank page Buzz...I don't know what the problem is.
No problem. I pasted the link into my browser and it brought up more than one response. I tried the first one and it didn't work, but the second one did. That is such an amazing series of photos, an amazing relationship. I have seen other examples of those kinds of relationships between different species.
I have seen other examples of those kinds of relationships between different species.
"I love crows and how intelligent they are."
I don't think you'll find a farmer who feels the same way about them.
I'm not able to open YouTube but your verbal description said enoigh.
I don't think you'll find a farmer who feels the same way about them.
I'm not able to open YouTube but your verbal description said enough.
I know, hence those things called scarecrows in the fields. I realize everything can't be perfect in our world, but crows do have to eat. I found this a long time ago about a crow patrol .
I am sorry you cannot open YT. I am glad you understood the small description i wrote. Eventually the kitten was fed cat food, but would not have survived without the crow's help. The crow then later shared the cat food with the cat. I'm sure most of these things went on in the world long before cameras/videos, but it's a great way now to educate people on the wonders of our world. I watch a live stream out in the midwest. A crow landed on the cam and does it quite a lot as he lives in the park I believe. I have a great screenshot of him with his beak in the lens. I call him Calvin. I may post him sometime.
Animals of different species can easily live together, even love each other as these articles establish. When a man saved a baby alligator a story was published haw the alligator loved him and treaed the man as a friend for the rest of its life. It is proof that if you do not TELL children there is a difference in skiin colour or teach them hatred, they will live together as equals.
if you do not TELL children there is a difference in skin colour or teach them hatred, they will live together as equals.
I do believe this as I have thought about the same thing many times. But there is always a lingering thought that in addition,some of that hate/fear may be passed through generations. I say that as an experiment done at a university in Seattle may show that. (please note next to last paragraph in article.)
Many years ago when my youngest daughter was around 4-5 she was playing in the yard with a little black girl. I thought to myself they don't even notice the difference in each other's skin color. That picture/memory has stayed with me always.
Dear Brother and Friend Kavika: Maybe these two should just get a room!
Great photo essay.
E.
I hear that they are booked into the ''No Tell Motel''....
Dear Brother Kavika: Motel spelled backwards is, "Let Em".
Enoch, Checking in at the Bates Motel.
Bates Motel. Where people check in, but they don't check out.
That's a good photo article.
We rescued several owls over the years. Stupid quail hunters would shoot them with bird shot. We would come across them and they didn't want to be friends with anybody or anything. We would corral them, put them in the trunk of the car, and put them in a cage we had in the basement.
We would cut up liver for them and keep their water supply up. After a while they realized they had a pretty good gig. They knew they were not going to be dinner and that they were healing.
They would let you know when it was time to go. To release them we would slide the cage to the basement door, open the basement door, open the cage door and off they would go. Incredible wing spans.
We rescued a baby hawk one time. The tree it's nest was in was felled. So we raised it and it stayed with us. You could release it. It would up, fly around and when ready to come down, it would perch right on your arm. I was very young at the time. It was a little overwhelming, but exciting.
Wow that is an amazing thing to do. I just love owls. I worked with small owls when I was working at the Bronx Zoo with an education program to bring animals to the classroom. But to have day to day contact with them, and watch them mend must be a very rewarding experience.
When I maybe 13 y/o my Brother, who was 18 mos older than me, was visiting our family for part of the summer. He and an older friend of his were at the City park for a band competition. After the competition they were walking back to his friend's car when he spotted an owl sitting on a low branch of a tree. My Brother and his friend walked up to the owl and it did not move. My Brother took off his shirt and wrapped the owl in it and brought it home to our house. There was a small room adjacent to our garage where my Brother put the owl for safe keeping, but, he was loose in the room.
He told my Mother about it and she said we could keep it until we could find out if someone lost it, as it did seem rather tame, like it had been handled by human's a good deal. However, I got stuck with the job of going out to feel it at night when it is their normal feeding time. I would take fresh meat out for it in a pan.
The part that was the scariest for me was all I had was a flashlight, and when I entered the room, since the owl was loose, I had no idea where it was. So I would hold the flashlight up to find out where the owl was, and when the light hit the owls big eyes in the dark is was veryyy spooky! I needed to know where it was so I knew where to put the meat pan down for it.
This lasted for about a month, and not getting any replies from inquiries about a missing owl, my Mother decided that we would take it to the Zoo. I got elected to hold the owl in my lap for the trip to the Zoo, which was across town from where we lived. The entire time I held the owl it stared at me, and the look on it face was a bit unnerving to say the least. The Zoo was happy to have the owl and it seemed to be willing to go to them.
I was really relived that I didn't have to go out and feed it at night anymore, but, I really did miss it.
Good story dave...
Thank you Kavika.