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: -An example of mutualism would be the oxpecker and zebra. The oxpeckers land on zebras to feed off of ticks and parasites. The oxpeckers obtain a source of food from this, and the zebras don’t have to deal with the parasitic organisms.

Detailed explanation-3: -The term mutualist is used to indicate the small partner and the host are the other partners present in the Mutualism. For example, Ants live and feed on the nectar of acacia trees. Here ants are the mutualist and acacia trees is the host. The acacia tree provides home and food for the ants.

Detailed explanation-4: -All these and many others host the oxpecker or tickbird. This bird has long been thought to remove ticks from its hosts, to the benefit of both-the bird eats the ticks, and the host is relieved of blood-sucking, disease-carrying parasites-but recent studies reveal that this process is less than benign.

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.