AVITOPIA - Oxpeckers

The only two species of the family of Oxpeckers live in sub-Saharan Africa. Their body length is 20 cm. Their habitat is the savannah, where they live in symbiosis with domestic or wild animals, although it is not clear whether they should be viewed as parasites. Their food consists of insects, ticks and their larvae on the one hand, and blood and wound tissue of the host on the other. Even if a host is not indispensable for the sociable Oxpeckers, its protection and food supply are preferred. Typically Oxpeckers breed in tree holes or other cavities. They lay 2 or 3 eggs, more rarely up to 5 eggs, and the parents share the incubation as well as the rearing, especially in feeding, helpers from the older generation of the siblings are often involved.