Wild Nature
Oxpecker: nature's vampire birds
S1 • E30 Aug 1, 2008
Oxpeckers are small birds that play a vital role in keeping the bushveld's largest creatures clean. They spend their days perched upon the hides of large herbivores eating ticks, flies and other insects that live on the animal's skin. Oxpeckers may help keep the bushvelds parasite population down but they too have a dark side. These birds have a taste from blood and will peck at open wounds to keep the blood flowing. These painful wounds can get easily infected in some cases result in the animal's death.
