Oxpecker

Oxpeckers are African birds that spend their entire lives on large mammals - buffalo, rhinos, giraffes, hippos - picking ticks, flies, and larvae from skin and wounds. A single oxpecker removes up to 100 ticks daily. Hosts tolerate birds crawling into ears, nostrils, and wounds because the cleaning service justifies the intrusion. This is the terrestrial version of cleaner wrasse mutualism, but with an important twist: oxpeckers sometimes cheat.

Research reveals that oxpeckers prefer blood to parasites. They keep wounds open to feed on blood, delaying healing. They preferentially remove engorged ticks (more nutritious) while leaving small ticks that would be easier for hosts to tolerate. The relationship exists on a mutualism-parasitism continuum, with outcomes depending on tick abundance. When ticks are plentiful, oxpeckers provide net benefit. When ticks are scarce, they may harm hosts by feeding on blood and preventing wound closure.

This conditional mutualism offers business insights beyond the cleaner wrasse's cleaner reputation model. Oxpeckers demonstrate that service relationships can shift between mutualistic and parasitic depending on market conditions. A consulting firm genuinely helps clients when problems are complex and plentiful - but may manufacture problems or extend engagements unnecessarily when genuine work runs short. The lesson is that the incentive structure determines whether service providers operate mutualistically or parasitically, and conditions can shift the equilibrium without anyone becoming explicitly dishonest.