AS ANYONE WHO HAS LIVED IN A FLAT will attest, few things are more irritating than noisy upstairs neighbours. So spare a thought for this grumpy-looking hippopotamus in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, suffering the chatterings of a red-billed oxpecker and its young (right) brazenly treating its head as a floating pontoon.
The birds do come with some benefits, though, as they remove ticks, mites, fleas and maggots from hippos’ hides – a kind of cleaning service. However, they are also known to peck at wounds and occasionally drink their blood, so it’s unclear whether it is a mutualistic or parasitic relationship.
Found across the savannah of sub-Saharan Africa, oxpeckers will happily hitch a ride – and steal a meal – from cattle, zebras and rhinos, too. Interestingly, observations of…