A pair of Red-billed Oxpeckers looking to feast on a hippo’s hide. Hippos usually have an open sore or wounds from their fighting which is a banquet for these sanitizers
A pair of Red-billed Oxpeckers on a Buffalo’s back searching for ticks and sores
Red-billed Oxpecker hosts are remarkably tolerant, perhaps because they understand the benefit these birds provide for the anmials
Yellow-billed Oxpecker on a Buffalo’s back.
Red-billed Oxpecker hitching a ride on a Zebra’s back
This Red-billed Oxpecker also helps smaller animals. I thought this was an interesting shot more because of the size of the bird relative to the Impala host
Other hosts can be very big. A small flock of Red-billed oxpeckers do a fine cleaning job on the Giraffe bull’s neck.
This young female Giraffe had the attentions of two young male Giraffes and quite a few Red-billed Oxpeckers. The shot was taken along the banks of the Chobe River.
These Hippo are very tolerant of the Red-billed Oxpeckers cleaning up their cuts.
Oxpeckers seem to be able to get up close and personal with Hippo with no adverse response
Red-billed Oxpecker combing a reticulated Giraffe’s neck hair in the Serengeti
The beauty service perched on the old bulls waiting for a discrete time to start his tidy up in the Serengeti
Howie's Wildlife Images 