Relationship status: It s complicated Aug 28, 2021

Relationship status: It s complicated

By posing for us, are these red-billed oxpeckers imposing on the impala? Well, science hasn"t quite decided on this one. The relationship between parasite-eating birds and hoofed mammals was once considered a textbook example of mutualism, with oxpeckers cleaning up the ticks and fleas that bug the bigger beasts. Which is what we"d like to think is going on here.

© Heini Wehrle/Minden Pictures

palette

Today in History

Aug 28, 2018Class, please take out a No. 2 pencil…
Aug 28, 2019Florentine garden brings generations together
Aug 28, 2020A prison fit for a count
Aug 28, 2022Bearded reedlings in Flevoland
Aug 28, 2023Dubrovnik, Croatia
Aug 28, 2024Paralympic Games begin in Paris
Aug 28, 2025A great white egret in Hungary

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Dec 5, 2020A cozy winter village
Aug 1, 2023National Mountain Climbing Day
Apr 11, 2026Papagayo Beach, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
May 3, 2024The Sonoran Desert, Arizona
Mar 31, 2018Cherry blossoms at the National Mall, Washington, DC
Jul 5, 2020There once was a lighthouse from...
May 9, 2020Here’s looking at you, teachers
Jun 15, 2019Pasadena Chalk Festival supports local arts education
Jun 27, 2018In search of roadside attractions on ‘America’s Highway’
Jul 18, 2020The moth wonderful time of the year
Jan 18, 2025Dunes at White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Oct 18, 2025Silbury Hill for International Archaeology Day
Nov 24, 2023Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington
Apr 1, 2020It s Census Day—make it count
May 27, 2024Fallen but not forgotten
May 5, 2023Cinco de Mayo
Apr 10, 2021Bear cubs roughhouse on Siblings Day
Jan 28, 2024Channel Country, Australia
May 28, 2025World Otter Day
Apr 16, 2022National Park Week begins
Jun 20, 2022Pollinator Week
Feb 13, 2022American bison
Jan 18, 2023White Sands National Park turns 90
May 17, 2022Salt ponds of Maras, Peru
Apr 3, 2024Find a Rainbow Day
Nov 25, 2022Native American Heritage Day
Apr 27, 2018National Park Week: Yosemite National Park, California
Aug 17, 2024International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
Oct 24, 2018Art over Amalfi
Oct 23, 2019Polar bear capital of the world