Zebra and Oxpecker Portrait-
This Plains Zebra posed nicely for me with an Oxpecker riding shotgun. It’s generally believed that there is a symbiotic relationship between Oxpeckers and the large mammals they feed off of, the bird getting ticks and other insects making a living off the mammal and the mammals getting rid of same. This one is a Red-billed Oxpecker (there is also a Yellow-billed species) and the Zebra is a Plains Zebra. Taken in the Maasai Mari in August of this year. (Plains Zebra – Equus quagga; Red-billed Oxpecker – Buphagus erythrorhynchus) (Sony a1, 200-600mm lens at 518mm, 1/1000 second, f/6.3, ISO 640; removal of some space between the zebra and the tree to improve the composition)
Zebra and Oxpecker Portrait-
This Plains Zebra posed nicely for me with an Oxpecker riding shotgun. It’s generally believed that there is a symbiotic relationship between Oxpeckers and the large mammals they feed off of, the bird getting ticks and other insects making a living off the mammal and the mammals getting rid of same. This one is a Red-billed Oxpecker (there is also a Yellow-billed species) and the Zebra is a Plains Zebra. Taken in the Maasai Mari in August of this year. (Plains Zebra – Equus quagga; Red-billed Oxpecker – Buphagus erythrorhynchus) (Sony a1, 200-600mm lens at 518mm, 1/1000 second, f/6.3, ISO 640; removal of some space between the zebra and the tree to improve the composition)