• The relationship between the buffalo and the tickbird is mutually beneficial
We observed a large herd of buffalo drinking water and wallowing at the Embakasi dam. However, I was fascinated by the presence of many red-billed and yellow billed oxpeckers. As we sat quietly, the oxpeckers moved all over the buffalo bodies, looking for delicious parasitic snacks like ticks and lice.
A close ecological relationship involving two or more species that can benefit all parties is known as symbiotic mutualism. It can also benefit one party without affecting the others, called commensalism, or help one while harming the others, called parasitism.
The relationship between the buffalo and the tickbird hovers somewhere between mutualism and parasitism because the tickbird seems to derive greater benefit from the relationship than the buffalo.
Red billed and yellow-billed oxpeckers have long been thought to remove ticks from their hosts, to the benefit of both — the bird eats the ticks, and the host is relieved of blood-sucking, disease-carrying parasites. However, oxpeckers can also aggressively bore into wounds on animals to access blood.
A secondary benefit to a host from the tickbird's presence is a sort of early warning system, since the birds make a hissing sound if they sight an enemy. This is of less benefit to the buffalo than to other hosts if the buffalo are in a large protective herd.
Another example of mutualism is the relationship between crocodiles and Egyptian plovers. The crocodile leaves its mouth open while basking on the shore, and the bird walks in and picks bits of rotting flesh from between the croc's teeth. The plover gets food and the croc gets a cleaner mouth.
The determining factor of mutualism is consent: the crocodile does not have to open its mouth for the bird. However, crocodiles appear to know that the birds benefit the hygiene in their mouths.
So next time you are in the park, be on the look out for species that have symbiotic relationships.