{"id":25188,"date":"2023-03-09T17:33:38","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=25188"},"modified":"2023-03-09T17:33:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:33:37","slug":"birds-on-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2023\/03\/09\/birds-on-the-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds on the brain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Opportunistic oxpeckers can be both a headache and a help to hippos <\/p>\n\n

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AS ANYONE WHO HAS LIVED IN A FLAT will attest, few things are more irritating than noisy upstairs neighbours. So spare a thought for this grumpy-looking hippopotamus in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, suffering the chatterings of a redbilled oxpecker and its young (right) brazenly treating its head as a floating pontoon. <\/p>\n\n

The birds do come with some benefits, though, as they remove ticks, mites, fleas and maggots from hippos\u2019 hides \u2013 akind of cleaning service. However, they are also known to peck at wounds and occasionally drink their blood, so it\u2019s unclear whether it is a mutualistic or parasitic relationship. <\/p>\n\n

Found across the savannah of sub-Saharan Africa, oxpeckers will happily hitch a ride \u2013 and steal a meal \u2013 from cattle, zebras and rhinos, too. Interestingly, observations of rhinos suggests that the oxpecker\u2019s hissing alarm call can alert their host to danger. Perhaps another reason to put up with these cheeky neighbours, despite their irritations. <\/p>\n\n

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MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThe birds are often arguing\u201d <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the dry season hippos will gather in \u2018hippo pools\u2019, situated in quiet bends along the Luangwa River,\u201d say wildlife photographer couple Jean-Louis Klein and Marie-Luce Hubert. \u201cThe oxpeckers are often arguing and jumping from one \u2018amphibian horse\u2019 to another. This juvenile is begging its parent for food.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

PHOTO: KLEIN & HUBERT\/NATUREPL.COM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opportunistic oxpeckers can be both a headache and a help to hippos <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"10","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"10","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_10-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_10-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"Spring-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"Spring-2023","purple_external_id":"Spring-2023-10-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"Spring-2023-10-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087242||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087242||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-03-09T16:33:45Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"f836e4d5-4ec1-4a88-a846-3779b3226756","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-03-09T16:33:45Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A-Dbk1U7BSoioRjd5syJnVg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676.jpg",2048,1502,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676-300x220.jpg",300,220,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676-768x563.jpg",768,563,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676-1024x751.jpg",800,587,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676-1536x1127.jpg",1536,1127,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/69787cef-d201-49ca-ad3f-69d0288e6676.jpg",2048,1502,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Opportunistic oxpeckers can be both a headache and a help to hippos","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25188"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26433,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25188\/revisions\/26433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}