A bird completely disappears down into a rhino's ear in search of food. The amazing clip was captured during a safari in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

"While most animals in the African wild tend to only associate with their own species, there are a few fascinating examples of where one species of animal will associate with other animals from a totally different species", explains the filmer of this video.

"Animals like rhinos greatly benefit from the presence of oxpecker birds. They spend their daylight hours picking and consuming ticks and parasites out of the pelage of their hosts in a win-win relationship. The animals get a clean body while the birds get their daily food intake".

"It really did look odd and a bit mind-boggling, thinking that the bird just disappeared into the ear of the rhino, and the oxpecker bird is not small", said the person who filmed this video.

"The bird dived deep down into the ear channel and amazingly the rhino didn’t seem to be bothered at first with the bird down its ear. It most likely felt good to the rhino, enjoying a good ear scrub with the compliments of Mother Nature".

The filmer said that eventually, another bird arrived and it looked like the rhino decided it had enough and shook them off with one shake of the head.

"Of course, the birds then just moved on to the next rhino", the filmer said.

It was during a safari in the Kruger National Park that I managed to capture one of the most interesting associations and relationships that exist between two animal species in the African wild. While most animals in the African wild tend to only associate with their own species, there are a few fascinating examples of where one species of animal will associate with other animals from a totally different species. This normally happens where mutualistic symbiosis is a possibility, when both species involved gain several advantages from their relationship. A classic example of such relationship in the African wild is that of the oxpecker bird and medium to large mammalian herbivores. I managed to capture a short moment that portrays this fascinating wonder of nature. We came across a small herd of rhino. One of the rhinos had an oxpecker bird jumping around on its head, showing particular interest in the rhino’s ear. Animals like rhino greatly benefit from the presence of oxpecker birds. These birds spend their daylight hours picking and consuming ticks and parasites out of the pelage of their hosts in a win-win relationship. The animals get a clean body while the birds get their daily food intake. Rhino’s do not have hair or fur on their bodies, so the oxpecker birds amazingly discovered that the parasites and ticks they are after sit in the nostrils and ears of a rhino. I watched this bird scanning all around the head of the rhino before targeting its one ear. The next moment it looked like the rhino and the bird together pulled off an incredible magic trick, with the bird suddenly disappearing in a split second. It really did look odd and a bit mind boggling, thinking that the bird just disappeared into the ear of the rhino, and the oxpecker bird is not a small bird. The bird dived deep down into the ear channel of the rhino and amazingly the rhino didn’t seem to be bothered at first with the bird down its ear. It most likely felt good to the rhino, enjoying a good ear scrub with the compliments of Mother Nature. Eventually another bird arrived, and it looked like the rhino decided it had enough of the birds in its ears and shook them off with one shake of the head. Of course, the birds then just moved onto the next rhino.