53
An impala
welcomes the
attention of a
red-billed
oxpecker
searching for
tasty parasites(^1) CORAL
Corals trap prey in their stinging
tentacles. They pass some of the
nutrients from their victims to tiny algae
living in their tissues. These use the sun’s
energy to make sugar, and they pass
some of this food back to the corals.
(^2) HUMMINGBIRD
Hummingbirds gather flower nectar,
and in the process they carry pollen
from flower to flower. Some plants
have evolved flowers that match the
bills of particular hummingbird species,
to encourage the birds to visit them
and deliver their pollen efficiently.
(^3) ANTS AND APHIDS
Aphids are tiny insects that feed on
sugary plant sap. They must eat a lot
of it to get enough protein, and they
excrete the excess sugar as drops of
sweet honeydew. Ants love to drink
this, so they “farm” the aphids,
protecting them from predators,
ensuring a constant supply.
(^4) CUCKOO
Cuckoos are “brood parasites” – they
lay their eggs in the nests of other
birds. Each young cuckoo hatches
quickly and destroys any other eggs
in the nest, so it can eat all the food
brought by its foster parents. It soon
outgrows its hosts, who often do not
seem to notice its massive size.
(^5) STRANGLER VINE
Some slender rainforest plants, such
as figs, grow by encircling a tree and
slowly killing it – a process that can
take up to 150 years. They steal the
tree’s nutrients, and eventually the
tree dies and decays, leaving the fig
plant standing alone.
(^6) OXPECKER
Hoofed grazing animals, such as
impalas, are often plagued by tiny
bloodsuckers, such as ticks, that they
cannot remove by scratching. In Africa,
stout-billed birds called oxpeckers do
the job for them by picking the
parasites off their skin and eating them.
(^7) REMORA
Predatory sharks have very sharp
teeth that cut their prey to shreds.
The scraps are eagerly devoured by
fish called remoras, which travel with
the sharks by clinging to their skin.
They do their hosts no harm, and the
sharks seem to ignore them.
6
7
A remora clings to
a shark’s skin using
a special sucker on
the back of its head
052_053_Living_together.indd 53 03/01/19 12:09 PM