Assessment of contrafreeloading preferences in giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
Contrafreeloading is an intriguing phenomenon in which animals will work to obtain resources, such as food, when the same resource is simultaneously freely available. Multiple hypotheses exist for why animals might choose to contrafreeload. In this study, we assessed preferences for contrafreeloading in giraffe at the Bronx Zoo to determine whether they actually preferred to […]
Distribution and density of oxpeckers on giraffes in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Oxpeckers (Buphagus sp.) are two bird species closely associated to large mammals, including giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis). We tested whether oxpeckers distributed themselves at random across individuals or aggregated on individual giraffes, and whether birds select the host’s body parts with the expected greatest amount of ticks. By counting oxpeckers on giraffe’s body from photographs, we […]