Relax a while

This Lowland tapir is taking it pretty easy right before the end of the year.

Right at the beginning of the airstrip, quite close near the lodge and the pier of Kabalebo, a familiar face appeared out of nowhere. It was the Lowland tapir coming out of the dense vegetation and trying to make it to the other end of the airstrip. But before crossing over he decided that it was also time for a full body check up for some unwelcoming visitors: tics.

Sometimes pictures can fool you a bit as it looks like this tapir just got shot (well in this case by me) and fell on to the ground. What actually happened was that the Giant Cowbirds started to land on top of his back and started to take out some tics. This was the cue for the tapir to 'surrender' and decided to lay down on the grass, just to make it easier for the Cowbirds to investigate.

As you can see in the following pictures, the Tapir did enjoy this treatment. He even made sure that they wouldn't miss a spot. 

After the Giant Cowbirds had done their job very well, the Lowland tapir stood up and continued his journey. 

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