Tom Warren / Solent News & Photo Agency

This huge gorilla and tiny duckling became unlikely friends after the bird escaped into the ape's zoo enclosure, Solent News and Photo Agency reported.

Visitors to the Bronx Zoo in New York were apprehensive when the baby bird suddenly appeared inches from the 4-and-a-half-foot-tall western lowland gorilla. But they needn't have worried: The 15-year-old female ape, called Fran, became fascinated with the tiny creature and happily let it waddle about before the duckling was removed by zookeepers.

Gorillas are frequently portrayed as aggressive, dangerous killers in the movies but they are actually shy, peaceful vegetarians.

Photographer Tom Warren, 51, captured the unlikely friendship. "I went to the zoo and quickly became aware of a commotion in the gorilla exhibit, as many of the school children were yelling 'ducky, ducky!' " he said. "We all watched with amazement as the little duckling wandered around the exhibit, while the gorillas either backed away from it or inspected it with curiosity.

"Then I spotted the duckling on the log next to a seemingly amused gorilla," Warren continued. "I held my breath and was able to fire off a few frames, knowing that the moment that I was witnessing was a very special one."

See more unlikely friends here.