Rhinos have a unique relationship with oxpeckers. These small birds live on the backs of large mammals, eating the parasites that infest their skin. However, they also provide another vital service – protection from hunters.
Rhinos have incredibly poor eyesight; anything more than a few metres away gets very blurry. Generally, they use their senses of hearing and smell to make up for this, but scientists have shown that their bird companions also help.
Oxpeckers make a warning sound to each other when they see humans approaching. Rhinos have learned that this noise means ‘danger’. When they hear it, they immediately face the way the wind is blowing; this is the direction that hunters normally approach from.
This study may be recent, but it only confirms what the Swahili people have known for centuries. Their name for oxpeckers is ‘Askari wa kifaru’, which means ‘the rhinos’ guard’. Hopefully they can live up to their name, and keep protecting these magnificent endangered beasts.
Lachlan Writes Science 