Disney's animations often depict friendships between animals.
Although each character belongs to a different species, everyone is inexplicably able to get along well and even build a family.
It turns out that this cross-species friendship is not only a fairy tale, but also real in reality.
Today we are going to tell the story of a female elephant named Nzhou and a herd of buffalo who became family.
Nzhou lost his parents at an early age, and he was unable to integrate into the elephant herd until a herd of buffaloes accepted it, which filled his longing for family affection.
Go back in time to more than forty years ago.
At the time, Nzhou was a two-year-old baby elephant.
Its parents were unfortunately killed by poachers targeting ivory, leaving it orphaned.
Fortunately, Nzhou was rescued and went to the Imire Black Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.
Wildlife here live together in a 10,000-acre space.
They can roam freely in the wild during the day and are kept in a safe area at night to protect themselves from poachers.
When they first moved in, Nzhou was placed with a male elephant and the park's only large fauna, the buffalo.
Later, as time passed, the only male elephant Nzhou knew died.
Thinking that elephants are social animals, the head of the park tried to encourage it to integrate into other herds, but for some reason, after years of trying, Nzhou was not interested in these kinds.
But its heart is obviously very eager for family affection...
Then there was a wonderful phenomenon, and Nzhou began to get closer and closer to the buffalo herd in the park.
I don't know if it is because they have lived together since childhood, Nzhou and the buffalo can identify with each other, and even understand each other.
When Nzhou hits the head or growls, the buffalo herd also knows its intentions.
The average adult buffalo weighs about 2,000 pounds, while adult elephants weigh about 8,800 to 15,400 pounds.
Although the size difference between the two sides was too great, the buffalo welcomed Nzhou as if they were their own children.
Naturally, Nzhou lived with the buffalo herd.
Although there is a saying that "elephants never forget", Nzhou seems to have long forgotten that he is an elephant and feels like a buffalo.
It often wanders in the meadow with buffalo, basking leisurely in the sun, and imitates the buffalo burying its head in grazing.
The habits of buffalo are different, and elephants prefer to forage while walking around.
Nzhou eventually followed his habits, but every time he walked far away and realized that there was a risk of breaking away from the large army, he began to panic, and the pace of returning to the team seemed very rapid.
Only when you return to the buffalo again will you completely calm down.
I have to say that the relationship between animals is indeed very wonderful.
In the day and night relationship between Nzhou and the buffalo, a novel phenomenon appeared - the buffalo began to cater to Nzhou's habits, following it around every day to forage for food, walking around for 16 hours a day.
With such a group of "caring" companions around him, Nzhou showed no signs of wanting to return to his own kind.
Seeing it so happy, the person in charge of the park no longer insisted and agreed with the way it found for itself.
Although mixed in the herd all day long, Nzhou also completely lost its elephant character.
It has always been very close to humans and will be fed by tourists.
It has even served as a protector of humanity.
One day, one of Nzhou's keepers was hit by a young male buffalo and severely bitten.
The breeder endured severe pain and shouted for help, and saw the buffalo in front of him approaching him again, and the fear of dying suffocated him.
Unexpectedly, his voice did not call other staff, but was heard by Nzhou not far away.
Nzhou immediately ran over to stop the mad buffalo, blocked the injured administrator, and then bravely stepped forward to chase the other party away.
At this moment, the seriously injured administrator could not move.
Surprisingly, Nzhou also did not leave, and remained silently by his side, seemingly afraid that he would be attacked again.
When the caretaker finally had the strength to crawl for rescue, Nzhou followed step by step, guarding the way until he sent the caretaker to safety before turning around and returning to the buffalo herd.
According to local accounts, Nzhou taught the "buffalo who caused the accident" a hard lesson after returning home, and some people even saw the body of the buffalo.
Nzhou, who is close to humans, is also a very gentle existence for buffalo.
Once, when a herd of buffaloes was about to cross a stream, one of the baby buffaloes got stuck in the mud and could not break free.
The other buffalo tried to come and help, but couldn't pull it out. Seeing the baby buffalo gradually lose its strength, its mother can only moo.
At this time, it was also Nzhou who heard the "cry for help" from the herd.
He quickly reached the edge of the stream, rolled up the little buffalo with his long nose, and immediately helped it out of trouble.
In this process of mutual help and acceptance, Nzhou gradually established its prestige among the buffalo herd.
Coupled with its own strong desire to lead, becoming the leader of the buffalo herd now seems inevitable.
As for Nzhou's path as a matriarch, it is difficult to say, simple and simple.
It is difficult because the buffalo itself follows the patrilineal social structure.
In general, in the wild animal world, it takes many years for a cow to become a group leader.
It's simple because Nzhou is an elephant after all. Compared to the buffalo, it has absolutely overwhelming power.
So at the age of 26, Nzhou successfully served as the matriarch of the buffalo.
In the 40 years that Nzhou has been in charge of the herd, there has been no shortage of young male buffalo who have challenged them, but almost all of them have been killed, almost 14 of them.
It can be said that no buffalo can pose any threat to it.
After taking the helm of the buffalo herd, Nzhou also developed a unique leadership style.
After all, since childhood, he has lost the opportunity to learn leadership with his elders, and he can only slowly figure out management problems on his own.
According to the park's administrators, Nzhou's approach is very "targeted".
Usually, it treats both mother and baby in a buffalo herd with tenderness.
When calves are born in the herd, they visit with other buffaloes and touch their mother and baby affectionately.
But when facing adult bulls, Nzhou is often guarded, sometimes suddenly angry, and even kicks directly.
In its opinion, everything is about keeping this particular family disciplined and on the right path. And the herds understand the cross-species manager.
Today, Nzhou is over 50 years old and is the oldest elephant in the reserve.
It hasn't had any contact with other elephants here for decades.
There is also speculation that it may have forgotten the way to communicate with the same kind of people, and cannot understand what the other party is saying.
But Nzhou doesn't care, he just continues to live leisurely with his unusual companions and leads them as a matriarch.
It is said that the newest members of the buffalo herd have all changed to the fifth generation, and Nzhou has been caring for the herd for so long, and Nzhou can be said to be a very great leader.
This alternative friendship between elephants and buffaloes has touched many netizens:
"You can see how emotional the elephant is... It's so loving to see it running around looking for the herd, and how happy it looks when it finds them. ”
"Here's the fun thing: elephants and buffaloes are two of these large terrestrial mammals that have good memories and high IQs, and they don't forget the things that hurt them, even if it's emotionally affecting their dark past.
In fact, both animals have proven to be great when it comes to caring for their young, and they are the best mothers in nature. This story tells us that many things they will never forget. ”
But some people believe that both elephants and buffaloes go against the original track of life, which makes people sad:
"Elephants are notoriously family-oriented, and even death cannot separate them. My heart was full of grief and worry... It needs its own kind, it needs to be an elephant. ”
Not only was the elephant unable to meet and mate with its own kind, but the buffalo was forced to change and go against its instincts because of its presence. This story is really sad. ”
Did the elephant think of himself as a buffalo, or did the buffalo think of itself as an elephant?
After Nzhou's story was reported, similar doubts kept being raised.
By now, the answer is no longer known.
As bystanders, what people probably need to do is respect the choice of animals.