An oxpecker sits on an African buffalo in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
© Susan Portnoy/Offse
Get the memo? It's Boss's Day. Hey, who’s in charge here?
On Boss’s Day, we’re showcasing a working relationship with unusual power dynamics. The oxpecker bird and the African buffalo, while starkly different sizes, make a good team. The oxpecker feeds exclusively on the cape buffalo’s body, removing bothersome parasites and bugs while getting a steady supply of food for itself, rarely ever leaving the animal’s side. Some scientists believe it to be an example of a symbiotic relationship, but others believe the oxpecker behaves more like a parasite. Ah, office politics.
Related Images
Highland cattle in Drenthe province in the Netherlands
Mount Kilimanjaro with Cape buffalo in foreground, Amboseli Biosphere Reserve, Kenya
Hippopotamus mother and baby, Chobe National Park, Botswana
Belted Galloway cows in Scotland
Decorated cows for the Almabtrieb, where the cattle are led back from their alpine pasture, Tannheimer Tal, a valley in Tyrol, Austria
African elephants in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya
American bison in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Male muskoxen near Prudhoe Bay in Alaska
Bing Today Images
Eurasian lynx, Siberia
Oct 16, 2025
Prince Christian Sound in southern Greenland
Oct 16, 2022
