18th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Harmony

A Yellow-billed Oxpecker sits on the face of an African Water Buffalo and eating many different types of insects, which parasites and causing a great uncomfortableness to the giant mammal. This is a great example of coexistence created by nature itself, as both the species get benefited from supporting each other, even though there is an ongoing debate to nominate these birds also as parasites due to the various behavior patterns of the two Oxpecker species

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2020
Photo Location: Maasai Mara, Kenya
Copyright: © Lakshitha Karunarathna