EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -One example of a mutualistic relationship is that of the oxpecker (a kind of bird) and the rhinoceros or zebra. Oxpeckers land on rhinos or zebras and eat ticks and other parasites that live on their skin. The oxpeckers get food and the beasts get pest control.

Detailed explanation-2: -One such relationship is that of the zebra and oxpecker – the oxpecker gets food by eating ticks and parasites that live on the zebra’s skin, thus providing the zebra with pest control. Even where organisms are different, there can be mutual benefits!

Detailed explanation-3: -These results support the hypothesis that the relationship between oxpeckers and ungulates is primarily mutualistic.

Detailed explanation-4: -Interaction of algae and fungi in lichen is an example of mutualism while that of bees and flowers is an example of mutualism.

Detailed explanation-5: -Pistol shrimps and gobies. Aphids and ants. Woolly bats and pitcher plants. Coral and algae. Oxpeckers and large mammals. Clownfish and anemones. Honeyguides and humans. The senita cactus and senita moth.