BY KITSON
JAZYNKAINCR
EDIB
LE
ANIMAL FRIENDS
POLDI
TA
NJ
A^ B
RA
ND
T^ (A
LL)
DECEMBER 2021 / JANUARY 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS (^5)
LITTLE OWL
HEIGHT 22 to 26 inches at
shoulder
POOCH PERSONALITY The
Belgian Malinois is known
for being loving and loyal.
NAME GAME It’s named
for the city in Belgium
where it was first bred.
DOG COP Some work as
police dogs, helping to
sniff out evidence at
crime scenes.
BELGIAN MALINOIS
my
buddy Is
a hoot!
Remscheid, Germany
Poldi the little owl seemed to
think that he was the bodyguard
for a Belgian Malinois named Ingo. Trouble is, the dog was over 150
times the owl’s size!
The bird, which weighed less than a cup of sugar, could be quite
protective of his 60-pound pooch pal. Once during a stroll in
the forest with their human, Tanja Brandt, another owl shrieked
overhead. Poldi flew from his perch on Brandt’s arm, landed on the
dog’s head, and shrieked right back.
“It was as if he were saying, ‘Back off my friend,’” Brandt says.
The owl and dog met after Brandt adopted the bird and brought
INGO
him to live in an aviary next to
her home, where she lived with Ingo. (Brandt is a
falconer, or a person licensed to train birds of prey
such as owls.) The animals quickly became BFFs.
In addition to taking walks together, the friends
enjoyed snuggling in the grass as the owl rubbed
his body against the dog’s face. And Poldi always let
his pooch pal know when he was ready for one-on-
one time. When the owl wanted attention, he’d nip
at Ingo’s ears with his beak. “Poldi may have been
smaller,” Brandt says. “But he was the boss.”
OWL DOTES
ON^ DO
G
RANGE Northern Africa,
Europe, and Asia
ON THE MENU Little owls
hunt voles, grasshoppers,
beetles, and small frogs.
PRACTICE PREY Young little
owls learn to hunt by preying
on worms.
ANCIENT OWL The bird
appears on an ancient Greek
coin from 500 B.C.