Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Oxpeckers or Peckerpeckers

  • sk001 by sk001

    I can't imagine that this is a particularly comfortable experience for the poor giraffe. Do the birds only feed on ticks/insects?

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  • kosmala by kosmala scientist

    That's a good questions. It's traditionally been thought that oxpeckers just feed on ticks and help their hosts by reducing the number of ticks on them. But apparently they sometimes actively keep wounds open to get a little extra by drinking their hosts' blood. Also, some big mammal species don't tolerate oxpeckers on them and actively work to keep them off. Giraffe, buffalo, and hippo are some of the larger mammals that do allow oxpeckers. Why? We don't really know.

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  • sk001 by sk001

    Thanks kosmala

    Posted

  • Ran-chan by Ran-chan

    I was wondering, is this kind of bird behavior unusual at night? (You know, the combing and skin foraging on the larger animals...) It looks really dark there.

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  • aliburchard by aliburchard scientist, translator

    This is something that surprised us too -- we've seen this on a couple other images too.

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  • barbiegoth by barbiegoth

    Wow!

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  • schaep by schaep

    maybe safe and warm sleepingspot?

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  • tirralirra by tirralirra

    Someone just posted a picture in the discussion forum showing a giraffe with what looked like an open wound on the inner thigh. I thought it might be the result of oxpeckers.

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