African (Cape) Buffalo and Red-billed Oxpecker
The African (Cape) Buffalo has a reputation for being one of the meanest mammals in Tanzania. We sometimes went for walks in parks with guards carrying AK-47's in case we ran into one. We saw more than 1,200, and all looked sullen. The male is much bigger than the female, attaining weights of almost a ton, while the "smaller" female can weigh up to a half a ton. The female has tiny cow horns, while the male's heavy horns go down to the side and then curve back. We never saw buffalos doing much besides eating vegetation and looking mean. The cartoonist B. Kliban drew a cartoon called "Bus Station Pest" which shows one person at a bus station sticking his finger into the ear of another. I thought of the pest when watching this Red-billed Oxpecker sticking its bill into the ear of the buffalo, who seemed to put up with it with no resistance. This buffalo was at Ngorongoro Crater.
African (Cape) Buffalo and Red-billed Oxpecker
The African (Cape) Buffalo has a reputation for being one of the meanest mammals in Tanzania. We sometimes went for walks in parks with guards carrying AK-47's in case we ran into one. We saw more than 1,200, and all looked sullen. The male is much bigger than the female, attaining weights of almost a ton, while the "smaller" female can weigh up to a half a ton. The female has tiny cow horns, while the male's heavy horns go down to the side and then curve back. We never saw buffalos doing much besides eating vegetation and looking mean. The cartoonist B. Kliban drew a cartoon called "Bus Station Pest" which shows one person at a bus station sticking his finger into the ear of another. I thought of the pest when watching this Red-billed Oxpecker sticking its bill into the ear of the buffalo, who seemed to put up with it with no resistance. This buffalo was at Ngorongoro Crater.