'Sentinel' Bird Found to Help Rhinos Evade Poachers
(CN) Africas red-billed oxpeckers known as the rhinos guard or Askari wa kifaru in Swahili truly live up to their indigenous names, according to research published Thursday which found the birds are instrumental in helping black rhinos avoid poachers and other humans.
Oxpeckers feed on the ticks and lesions of the rhinos body and are often found hitchhiking on the animals, which are listed as critically endangered but who have rebounded in recent years thanks to conservation efforts.
But the small black birds also behave like sentinels, sensing nearby humans and alerting their horned companions using their calls, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.
Study co-author Roan Plotz said in a statement that poachers who track and kill black rhinos remain a major threat to the species, especially since the animals have poor eyesight.
Although black rhinos have large, rapier-like horns and a thick hide, they are as blind as a bat, Plotz said. If the conditions are right, a hunter could walk within five meters of one, as long as they are downwind.
https://www.courthousenews.com/sentinel-bird-found-to-help-rhinos-evade-poachers/