While driving through the South African wilderness, Zaheer Ali spotted a lone rhino munching on some grass.
The young oxpecker was perched on the rhino’s head, but even with his camera at the ready, Ali didn’t see anything particularly photogenic. But it was all going to change in a matter of minutes.
The red-billed bird is often spotted hitchhiking on the backs and heads of black rhinos. The birds feed on ticks and fly larvae on the rhino’s tough skin, ridding the large animal of unwanted parasites. The rhinos provide the birds with a safe place to live and plenty of food — but their connection is even deeper.
The Swahili name for the red-billed oxpecker is “Askari wa kifaru,” which translates to “the rhino’s guard.” A recent study discovered that though the birds are just 8 inches long, they help to keep their large friends safe.
Scientists reported in Current Biology that the oxpeckers make up for rhinos’ poor eyesight by alerting them to danger. Scientists found that when oxpeckers detect humans approaching, they make a sharp warning call or hiss, and the rhinos know to become more vigilant.
This helps the critically endangered species avoid poachers, who hunt the animals for their horn which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
But Ali noticed something else when he looked at the oxpecker and rhino pair that day. “I watched as this tiny bird sharpened his beak on the horn of the rhino and it was something I’d never seen before,” Ali said in a Zali Safari blog post. “I picked up my camera and waited for the right moment and took the shot as the bird lay on the horn of the rhino.”
Both animals looked to be entirely at ease and content in one other’s presence as the bird seemed to bend in to cuddle the rhino. By chance, Ali had captured an image perfectly symbolizing the symbiotic relationship that the two unlikely friends share.
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