Oxpeckers are birds that follow herds of oxen. These birds c…
Oxpeckers are birds that follow herds of oxen. These birds can be observed picking and eating things off the oxen. To explore the nature of this species-species interaction, a researcher divided a herd of oxen into two groups, control and experimental. He rotated the two groups between pastures. In the experimental group an individual scared the birds away from the oxen, in the control group an individual accompanied the oxen, but did not scare the birds away from their usual feeding activities. After a month the oxen were evaluated for numbers of ticks and number of open wounds (injuries). This experiment was repeated 3 times (shown as treatments below). There was no significant difference between the numbers of ticks in the experimental and control groups. Below is the data for the wounds. What do these data suggest about the interaction between the oxpeckers and the oxen?