Why this rhino-zebra friendship makes perfect sense

Whether playing ball, chasing and racing, or snuggling up together at night, Daisy the baby white rhinoceros and Modjadji the plains zebra are often inseparable at the Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary in South Africa where they were rehabilitated. “You cannot believe how adorable these guys are,” says sanctuary founder Petronel Nieuwoudt of the two young animals she helped raise.

Modjadji, named after the local rain goddess, was found alone and suffering from tick-borne anemia in Kruger National Park after a heavy rainstorm. A few days later, rangers found Daisy. She was only about 12 hours old and still had her umbilical cord attached; she was also sick with an infection. Her mother was likely poached for her horn.

Left alone, these animals likely wouldn’t have survived. But paired together—and with the help of conservationists—the unlikely friends have a chance to return to the wild.

Young friends

Both species are able to stand within an hour of birth, but both white rhinos and plains zebras still require parental investment. Rhino calves stay with their mothers for two to three years, while zebras can reach independence after one year. In that time, the youngsters rely on their mothers for food, protection, and socialization.

Although these species don’t closely interact in the wild, Nieuwoudt placed the two orphans together so that they would receive the comfort they were missing from their mothers. She says the pair especially loved to touch each other while they slept. “It’s the feeling of, ‘Oh there’s another little breath next to me and another little heartbeat next to me,’” Nieuwoudt says.

Plus, the youngsters could teach each other how to play. “Play behavior is very important for building social skills, learning boundaries, and becoming physically competent,” says Terri Roth, a rhino scientist at the Cincinnati Zoo. Socialization with another animal at a young age “makes for a much more adapted animal as they become an adult.”

Protecting these peers on the plains

In the wild, rhinos’ and zebras’ territories overlap—both are herbivores that often chow on grass. “The use of the savannas by the white rhinos and the zebras is pretty similar,” Roth says. And these animals are both perissodactyls, a group of hoofed herbivores that includes horses and donkeys. “They are taxonomically more closely related than anything else.” This may explain why a rhino would serve as a surrogate buddy for a zebra, she says.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the plains zebras as near threatened, and their population is decreasing. Climate change is causing extensive droughts which make food and water less available to zebras, and they’re being pushed from their habitat as people farm the land.

White rhinos were once thought to be extinct, but they’re now listed as near threatened thanks to conservation efforts. The main threat are poachers seeking rhino horns. Made of the same material that makes up fingernails, horns are still used in some cultures as traditional medicine or for carvings. And though there are laws prohibiting poaching, they aren’t always enforced.

See you later

There are some skills both pals can only learn from their species. Roth explains that while a rhino will instinctively roll in the mud to get relief from biting flies, finding the locations of mud wallows and water sources is a skill learned from the mother. Daisy will need to learn this from other rhinos.

Modjadji will need to learn about herd hierarchy with other zebras, says wildlife veterinarian and Nat Geo Explorer Shaleen Angwenyi. These animals live in permanent groups with one male, up to six females, and their foals. They often travel in a line led by the dominant female and the rest following according to rank.

As they grow, Modjadji is spending less time with Daisy and more with her fellow zebras in a protected area. Nieuwoudt often spots her hanging out near the adult rhinos in the area, but Modjadji still sometimes comes back to the center for a quick nap with Daisy.

Meanwhile, Daisy continues to live at the sanctuary where they’re working to help her grow—she now weighs over a thousand pounds—and learn how to interact with other orphaned rhinos. Nieuwoudt hopes that someday both Daisy and Modjadji will be wild again, perhaps grazing close to each other.