OXPECKERS

 


Oxpeckers’ bills are especially adapted to their lifestyle. The bills are pointed as well as laterally compressed which helps the birds work their way through the coats of the mammals in a comb-like fashion and to pry out well embedded parasites.Their legs are also well adapted to a life spent perched on mammals. The legs are shortened to enable them to grip onto their moving hosts. Powerful toes and sharp nails further benefit the Oxpeckers in their quest to feed and as a spin off keep their mammal hosts’ parasite numbers under control.

They produce either scissoring or pecking motion to collect the food from the fur.

Red-billed oxpecker uses scissoring motion to extract insects tangled in the long hairs.

Yellow-billed oxpecker uses pecking motion to grab insects from the fur of short-haired animals such as buffalo and rhino.

Oxpeckers also eat ear wax. Scientists believe that oxpeckers use bacteria from the ear wax to facilitate digestion.

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