Nighttime camera trap images from
Serengeti National Park in Tanzania reveal giraffes acting as "bed and
breakfasts," scientists say.
By Joshua Rapp Learn
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 27, 2018
The best way to guarantee
breakfast in bed for some small African birds is falling asleep on your dinner
plate—even if it's a giraffe's
armpit.
Scientists have long known that
yellow-billed oxpeckers hang out on massive African mammals like giraffe, water
buffalo, and eland during the day—an often beneficial relationship that
provides hosts with cleaner, healthier skin. These small brown birds can often
be seen perched on top or hanging off the animals, picking through their hair
in search of tasty parasites like ticks.
But a series of rare photos from
a large multi-year camera trap study in Tanzania's
Serengeti National Park have revealed that the birds actually roost on some of
their hosts overnight. The National Geographic Society provided funding for the
project, called Snapshot
Serengeti, which is led by lion expert Craig
Packer. (See how hidden
cameras reveal the secret lives of the Serengeti.)
"You look at them on the
giraffe and they're just right up in there," says Meredith Palmer, a Ph.D.
candidate in behavioral ecology at the University of Minnesota. "It's a
very safe, comfortable place for the birds."
Palmer, who led a new study
on these giraffe "bed and breakfasts" in theAfrican Journal of
Ecology, believes the roosting may also be a territorial maneuver to
deter competitors.
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