Murphy the bald eagle went from incubating a rock (left) to bonding with an orphaned eagle chick.
A bald eagle who went viral for adopting a rock at a Missouri sanctuary recently took a new baby bird under his wing.

The 31-year-old bird named Murphy went viral in March after photos of his enclosure at the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, Missouri, were shared on Twitter. A sign on the enclosure’s fence informed visitors that Murphy was looking after a rock.

“If you see an eagle lying down in the back left corner under a perch, that’s Murphy! Murphy is not hurt, sick, or otherwise in distress,” the sign read. “He has built a nest on the ground, and is very carefully incubating a rock! We wish him the best of luck!”

The tweet racked up more than 4.5 million views and nearly 140,000 likes. On March 26, the sanctuary posted an update on Facebook about Murphy and the stone, which they later dubbed “RockBaby.”

“Although it might make you feel sad that Murphy has built a nest and is nurturing a rock as an egg, it’s just his hormonal response to spring. Murphy is not sad, so you don’t need to be,” the post read.

In a subsequent update on April 4, the group said Murphy had grown so protective of RockBaby that he took over a third of the 90,000 cubic-square-foot enclosure he shared with four other eagles.

Due to Murphy’s aggression, he and the rock were moved into their own space not accessible to the public.

Still, good news was on the way for Murphy. On April 2, the sanctuary shared photos of an injured bald eagle chick they received after a storm blew its nest down. The organization said the baby would be placed with an adult eagle because it was at high risk of imprinting on a human.

Although Murphy wasn’t a contender for the job at first, the sanctuary wrote on April 12 that he turned out to be the chick’s best option.

“It was then decided that we would give Murphy a chance at fostering the eaglet. Murphy’s dad instincts were already in high gear, but at 31 years old, he had never raised a chick before,” the sanctuary wrote. “It’s definitely a gamble, but also the chick’s best chance.”

The baby was introduced to Murphy in a small wood and wire box the group jokingly refers to as “Baby Jail.” Once the box was placed in Murphy’s enclosure, staff monitored their interactions as Murphy learned to accept the chick. The chick was then removed from the box and allowed to interact with Murphy, who began to feed and protect it.

“It’s just too much for the heart to handle. The fact that the chick’s face is blurry is incredibly endearing. That mouth is very busy peeping away,” the group captioned a photo of Murphy and the chick on Facebook. “It wants more and more food! Good thing Murphy has all of us to supply it!”

After a round of severe weather and tornadoes in Missouri on April 16, the sanctuary said it found the chick suffering from hypothermia and shock. It was treated at the sanctuary hospital and returned to Murphy and a newly “fortified and improved” nest to continue their bonding.

The World Bird Sanctuary did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

The stories of friendships born between animals of different species are not uncommon.

But I wouldn’t have believed that an owl and a dog could become the best friends of until I saw these adorable photos by Tanja Brandt, a professional animal photographer and collage artist in Germany.

Ingo the Malinois shepherd dog and Poldi, the cute owl, seem very happy to cozy up to each other for photoshoots, no questions asked.

Image credits: Tanja Brandt

Ingo always wants to keep Poldi close by and always offers his love and protection. Poldi “doesn’t know how to live free”, according to Tanja.

“I go outside with them together — Poldi on my hand, Ingo is free running,” said Tanja. “(Referring to the owl flying free) Not so with Poldi. It’s too dangerous. Every cat would kill him, he don’t know hows to live free.”

“Sometimes, Ingo will go for a walk with Poldi hitching a ride on his back.

Other times, the duo will simply snuggle up together, with the petite Poldi finding a warm spot to nestle, like under Ingo’s chin, or behind his paw.

Occasionally, if Ingo is fetching something, Poldi will take the opportunity to land and grab a new and different vantage point.”

Poldi the owl was the smallest hatchling of 7. He almost didn’t make it out of his shell and is lucky to be alive.

Poldi is a bit more vulnerable than his brothers and sisters. He hatched two days later than his siblings and is quite tiny compared to other owls. In short, he needed more attention and care than others.

That is in sharp contrast with Ingo, who has experience protecting others. The Belgian Shepherd comes from a family of police dogs and has definitely had his tough moments in life.

“Ingo, somehow sensing that Poldi was vulnerable, decided to assign himself the role of protector and best friend,” and the rest is photo history.

“Poldi does have a special lady now, and Ingo is a dog with a busy interspecies social calendar, so these best buds sometimes find they have other responsibilities.

Still, whenever they can, they come back to one another, and enjoy just hanging — two unexpected friends who totally adore each other.”

If you like these photos, be sure to visit Brandt’s site, because Ingo has a whole lot of beautiful animal friendships, be they other Belgian shepherds or other fierce birds of prey besides Poldi.

Brandt creates animal photos and collages professionally, so she seems to have a lot of cooperative models to work with!