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 of starkly different sizes, make a good team. The oxpecker feeds exclusively while perched on the buffalo’s body, removing bothersome parasites and bugs while getting a steady supply of food for itself. Some scientists believe this to be an example of a mutualistic relationship, but others think the oxpecker behaves more like a parasite. Ah, office politics.
Related Images
Hippopotamus mother and baby, Chobe National Park, Botswana
Male muskoxen near Prudhoe Bay in Alaska
Highland cattle in Drenthe province in the Netherlands
Mount Kilimanjaro with Cape buffaloes in foreground, Amboseli Biosphere Reserve, Kenya
Male American bison in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Cows decorated for the Almabtrieb in Tannheimer Tal, a valley in Tyrol, Austria
Elephant family in Amboseli National Park, Kenya
American bison in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Bing Today Images
Eurasian lynx in Siberia
Oct 16, 2025
Prince Christian Sound in southern Greenland
Oct 16, 2022
A fossilized carboniferous fern
Oct 16, 2019
