PHOTO FEATURE

Cattle Egret and

Cattle egrets feed on different preys
ranging from insects such as ticks,
grasshoppers, crickets, flies, moths,

Grazer – Story of their spiders, frogs and earthworms. They

have also been reported to feed on

Relationship
crustaceans, fish, lizards, rodents and
vegetable matter.
If a Cattle egret eats ticks off the
hide of grazing mammals, then the
M.C. Bindya relationship becomes mutualism. Cattle
egrets also serve important ectoparasite
biological control role by feeding on the
ectoparasites found on their hosts (Blaker,
1969; Yadav, 1999; Seedikkoya et al.,
2005; 2007). This has led to significant
reduction in the associated irritation of
dipterous cattle pests by pecking them
directly from their skins (Blakar, 1969;
Lever, 1987). This type of interaction
represents mutualism. Here the egret
essentially helps the mammal while at the
same time getting food.
It was also found that egrets with
exclusive access to a cow always foraged
better and caught significantly more
number of preys than egrets who foraged
away from the cattle (Grubb, 1976).
If we were to clarify the nature of
interaction between the Cattle egret and
larger grazing mammals we can call it
mutualism only when the egrets are in
association with the cattle, that is if the
A cattle egret former were within 2 to 3m distance of
foraging cattle (Deep Novel Kour and

W
D.N. Sahi, Acad. Journals, 2012) or
HITE birds with yellow beaks other without affecting it, that is, neither
perched on the back of the mammal. Since
and slender legs are often benefitting nor harming. So, how is it
egrets actually clean the area off annoying
found in the vicinity of large that the Cattle egret shares two types of
pests, both the partners – the egret and the
grazing mammals like cow, buffalo, relationships with cattle?
mammal – are benefitting here.
rhinoceros or elephants, especially if
we pass by grasslands, wetlands or
inundated fields. These are Cattle egrets,
so called because unlike other types of
egrets these are commonly found either
riding on cattle or around them as they
graze.
For many years the interaction
between the egret and a grazing mammal
was described as ‘Mutualism’, a
relationship between two organisms
belonging to different species in which
each individual benefits from the activity
of the other. The same example is also
often presented as ’Commensalism’,
a relationship between two organisms
belonging to different species in which
one organism obtains benefits from the
Egret and a wild water buffalo

34 | Science Reporter | June 2019

 Egrets following wild Asian elephants
Cattle egrets and rhinoceros
It can nevertheless be called
facultative mutualism too because
the egrets and the mammals are not
exclusively dependent on each other for
their survival (The American Heritage
Science Dictionary); egrets also feed
on vertebrates like frogs and other
invertebrates like moths, spiders and
earthworms (Seedikkoya et al., 2005;
Egrets following moving tractors
(www.ynotpics.com)
2007; Siegfried, 1971; Martinez and
Motis, 1992) from grasslands and the
mammals do survive even in the absence
of egrets. Thus their relationship is not
of obligate kind.
These birds are able to easily obtain
their diet (for instance insects, beetles
and so on) when stirred up by their large
herbivore hosts, which considerably
improves their foraging success compared
to when grazing alone. When in the
company of cattle, their efficiency is
3.60 to 5.20 times more than when they
are not associated with cattle (Dinsmore
1973, Grubb 1976). In this case the egrets
are adjacent to the mammals but not very
close or perched on their bodies, thus the
mammals are completely unaffected and
get no benefit by the presence of egrets,
while the egrets are getting fed. So, this
interaction denotes commensalism.
Aeshita Mukherjee, Ornithologist,
National Tree Growers Cooperative
Federation Limited, has drawn our
attention to her abstract in her article
titled ‘Adaptiveness of Cattle egret’s
foraging’, which says that Cattle egrets
once had a strong association with grazing
cattle, but have now shifted themselves
behind tractors especially in inundated
agricultural fields. The egrets follow the
tractor to feed on insects stirred up. A
comparison between cattle and tractor in
terms of capture per minute reveals the
tractor to be more efficient in exposing
the prey. Hence the egrets solely do not
depend on walking or resting mammals
to be fed, they are opportunistic feeders
(Optimal Foraging Theory).
They follow any cattle, or even
tractors/mowers. This is called facultative
commensalism, since the association of
egrets with mammals is not obligate,
the type of commensalism here in fact
is loose; the egrets do not die if the
relationship with cattle/a grazing mammal
ends.
In fact, Cattle egrets have been
employed extensively as important
biocontrol measures for cattle parasites
(Telfair II, 1994; TelfairII and Raymond,
2006). Isaiah Oluwafemi Ademola et al.
in the Journal of Environmental Extension
(Vol. 12) in their article “Parasites of cattle
egrets and the associated Haematological
and biochemical changes”, says that
“despite the beneficial roles of Cattle
egrets in controlling cattle pests, they have
been implicated in their potential role in
the transmission of different diseases such
as heartwater, infectious bursal disease
and Newcastle disease (Fagbohun et al.,
2000a; 2000b). Isolation of salmonella in
cattle egret from Fernando de Noronha
Archipelago, Brazil (Silva M.A et al. Braz
J Microbiol., 2018) shows the possibility
of transmission of pathogens to human
beings and livestock. This is because
Cattle egrets habitually come into close
proximity to cattle, sheep, goats and
horses (Lunardi V O, et al. Braz J Biol).
So, there is still a lot to be revealed
about the relationship between a Cattle
egret and a grazing wild or domesticated
mammal.
Ms M.C. Bindya is a Post Graduate Teacher
in Biology, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya
(MHRD, Dept of Education, Govt. of
India), Mbajai, Jalukie, Peren District,
Nagaland-797110. Email: bindyamcram@
gmail.com
Photographs shot by author in the Kaziranga
National Park, Assam
June 2019 | Science Reporter | 35