Baby Weasel and Woodpecker: BFF Or Mortal Enemies

Last weekend, the Internet lost its collective mind over the picture of a dress. Was it black and blue or white and gold? More importantly, why for the love of all that matters on this planet, does anyone care? Now that the dress is just a fading memory, we need a new distraction. Enter baby weasel and woodpecker. A quick thinking photographer captured a one-a-kind photo of a woodpecker in flight with a baby weasel hitching a ride and our collective hearts melted.

Was this the beginning of a new wacky animal friendship? Where they flying off for new adventures in crime solving? Was this going to be a dynamic duo that could teach us all a lesson about love and friendship? A lesson that is so sorely needed in these troubling times? Yeah, not so much. Turns out the weasel was trying to kill the woodpecker and have him for dinner. The bird freaked, took off with the weasel latched on. Weasel bailed and Woody went on to peck again.

It was photo snapper Martin Le-May who captured the pic that has everyone talking. He was out on a stroll with this wife at Hornchurch Country Park in East London when wifey spotted the bird in flight with a strange passenger. Hubby snapped the photo and then watched the story unfold. Take it away, Mr. Le-May:

“The woodpecker landed in front of us and I feared the worst,” he told the HuffingtonPost. “I guess though our presence, maybe 25 metres away, momentarily distracted the weasel. The woodpecker seized the opportunity and flew up and away into some bushes away to our left. Quickly the bird gathered its self-respect and flew up into the trees and away from our sight. The woodpecker left with its life, the weasel just disappeared into the long grass, hungry.”

There you have it folks. No doubt you’ve already seen this photo and went, “Awww.” Now you know the truth and can go, “Ewww.” You can thank me later.