#crocodile bird

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #WorldCrocDay + #ManuscriptMonday :

Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) having its teeth cleaned by the "Crocodile Bird" (Trochilus), from a 1615 copy of the Kitāb al-Ḥayawān (The Book of Animals) by al-Jāḥiẓ (c. 776–868/869 CE). Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, MS D140inf.

[snarp]

Trochilus (crocodile bird) - Wikipedia

I guess if some species of bird really did regularly voluntarily go into Nile crocodiles' mouths to clean their teeth, we'd have a lot of video evidence of that... I didn't realize until just now that I'd never actually seen such a video. Epistemological crocodile crisis. Bill and Pete were not real.

[miacat7]

Dance - Crocodile Bird

[owlmachine]

I want a crocodile bird that just cleans my mouth and only my mouth when I'm on the go and/or sunbasking.

[genottr]

Drawing a fat crocodile with a plover bird is my idea of fun.

[funnywildlife]

Egyptian plover by anacm.silva on Flickr.

Egyptian plover or Crocodile Bird - an almost mythical bird:-) On the road to Janjanbureh - Kau-ur Wetland The Gambia

[really-tho]

The Egyptian Plover Feeds on a Crocodile’s Leftovers

I disappear into your mouth

and sweep your molars

of their meat,

sucking residual syrup

from your gums.

Thin the wet plum ridge

and swallow,

I have nobody buried

in the sand.