A fearless muntjac deer weighing just 50 pounds went head-to-head with a nearly two-ton rhinoceros at a zoo in Poland in a caught-on-camera David and Goliath bout for the ages.
A caretaker at Wroclaw Zoo in Poland captured the standoff between Maruska the rhino and Mundzak the Chinese muntjac deer in a video viewed millions of times on social media.
“Someone probably forgot to look in the mirror this morning. Respect for Maruska for her angelic patience!” Wroclaw Zoo captioned the video on its Instagram.
The clip shows the diminutive deer squaring off with its much-larger opponent in a snowy zoo enclosure as the 3,750-pound armor-plated beast rears its head.
The tiny muntjac takes a tiny step backwards, as if momentarily asking itself if this scrap was a good idea, but stands its ground before lowering its head and charging right at the horn of the hulking black rhino.
The rhino sways its head back and forth a few times, seemingly in disbelief, before charging right back at the brazen combatant 1/75th its size.
But rather than turning tail and fleeing, the deer again charges forward, delivering a second head-butt, which sends the rhinoceros running as its tiny foe gives chase.
Appearing to capitalize on the rhino’s lack of confidence, the deer’s spindly legs furiously propel it forward in pursuit, leading to one final face-to-face before the rhino runs off.
The heart-stopping — but ultimately harmless — scuffle was the result of Munzak having a surplus of built-up testosterone because his “girlfriend” had a “rash,” according to the zoo.
“He has to discharge energy and show who’s boss — even if the sparring partner weighs 1.7 tons. Who would have thought that such a warrior sleeps in this tiny body?” the zoo’s translated Instagram post concludes.
Despite the animals’ tussle, the pair remain friends, a follow-up video posted by Wroclaw zoo shows the former sparring partners happily munching on some hay side by side a few days later — along with Mundzak’s girlfriend.
“And what does their relationship look like every day? Exactly as you can see on this video,” the zoo wrote, sharing that Mundzak’s nickname among caregivers is “Daddy Munchkin.”
“Rhinos with munchkins have lived together in our zoo for years, they have separate bedrooms, but a common ‘yard.’ They ate hay together from more than one plate and, as you can see, there is usually full agreement here,” the translated post continued.
“What you saw in the record-breaking popularity of the movie is natural behavior, albeit very rare. Dad Mundzak defended his territory because the female has a ravine. Maru rakka treated it as a form of fun. Luckily she is very delicate and remembers that she weighs about 100 times more than her colleague!”
The Wroclaw Zoo is the oldest zoo in Poland, opening in 1865. It covers 82 acres and boasts 10,500 animals spanning 1,132 species.
