by How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A Look at Unusual Animal Partnerships
More about symbiosis …
There are several different kinds of symbiotic relationships. This book describes mutualism, a partnership in which all the animals are helped. There are also relationships in which one animal benefits and another is harmed—a tick and a giraffe, for instance. This is called parasitism. A third kind of relationship helps one animal and doesn’t hurt or help another. When a barnacle attaches to an oyster’s shell, it gets a home, but the oyster isn’t really affected. This kind of symbiosis is called commensualism.
Sometimes it hard to tell what sort of a symbiotic relationship exists between animals, and scientists don’t always agree. For instance, some biologists describe the relationship of the remora and shark as commensualism (the remora benefits, the shark gets nothing). Others believe it is mutualism (that’s the way it is described in this book).
Animals don’t form mutualistic relationships out of friendship, or from any desire to help each other. They are completely selfish and remain in these relationships only because the partnership somehow helps them survive.
Perhaps the most common symbiotic relationships in the world are those between animals and bacteria, such as the one between cows and the microorganisms in their gut that help them digest their food. These relationships are interesting, but difficult to observe and illustrate, so this book focuses on larger organisms.
On these pages you can learn more about the size, habitat, and diet of the animals in this book.
zebra
size: 5 feet (1½ meters) at the shoulder
habitat: African plains and dry grasslands
diet: plants and grasses
wildebeest
size: 4 feet (1¼ meters) at the shoulder
habitat: plains and open woodlands of Africa
diet: short grasses
ostrich
size: up to 9 feet tall (2¾ meters)
habitat: savannahs and dry plains of Africa
diet: seeds, shrubs, grasses, and insects
cattle egret
size: 20 inches (51 centimeters) long
habitat: warm climates throughout the world
diet: grasshoppers, other insects, and frogs
waterbuck
size: 4 feet (11/ meters) at the shoulder
habitat: savannah and scrublands of Africa
diet: shrubs, tree leaves, and grasses
boxer crab
size:½ inch (1¼ centimeter) across
habitat: Indian and Pacific oceans
diet: plants, dead animals, and
zooplankton
hermit crab
size: up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) long
habitat: shallow seas worldwide
diet: plants, worms, and dead animals
sea sponge
size: up to 7 feet (2 meters) tall
habitat: oceans worldwide
diet: small food particles and plankton
decorator crab
size: 5 inches (12½ centimeters) across
habitat: warm ocean shores worldwide
diet: algae, sponges, and small crustaceans
upside-down jellyfish
size: 12 inches (30 centimeters) across
habitat: warm shallow seas
diet: algae and plankton
prairie dog
length: 13 inches (33 centimeters)
habitat: grass prairies and plains of the American West
diet: grasses and insects
coyote
length: 32 inches (81 centimeters)
habitat: throughout North America
diet: small mammals, birds, and reptiles
badger
length: 22 inches (56 centimeters)
habitat: Western North America
diet: rodents and other small animals
raven
length: 25 inches (63.5 centimeters)
habitat: most climates worldwide
diet: fruit, grain, and live and dead animals
wolf
length: up to 6½ feet (2 meters) nose to tail
habitat: northern North America and Asia
diet: small mammals and other animals, deer, elk, and moose
honeyguide
length: 6 inches (15 centimeters)
habitat: forests of Africa and southern Asia
diet: insects, spiders, honeybee larvae, and beeswax
ratel (honey badger)
length: 26 inches (66 centimeters)
habitat: dry grasslands of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia
diet: small mammals and reptiles, birds, eggs, insects, and honey
oxpecker
size: 8 inches (20 centimeters) long
habitat: savannahs and forests of Africa
diet: ticks, flies, and blood of host animals
giraffe
size: up to 18 feet (5¾ meters) tall
habitat: African savannah and open
woodlands south of the Sahara
diet: leaves, shrubs, and grass
rhinoceros
size: up to 6,600 pounds (3,000 kilograms)
habitat: African plains and woodlands
diet: leaves, shrubs, and grasses
red deer
size: up to 500 pounds (227 kilograms)
habitat: northern Africa
diet: leaves, shrubs, and grasses
African buffalo
size: up to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms)
habitat: African plains
diet: leaves, shrubs, and grasses
Egyptian plover
size: 8 inches (20 centimeters) long
habitat: lowland tropical rivers of Africa
diet: insects, worms, and scraps of food in crocodiles’ teeth
African crocodile
size: up to 20 feet (6 meters) long
habitat: African rivers, freshwater marshes, and swamps
diet: fish; zebras, wildebeests, and other mammals; birds; and other crocodiles
ocean sunfish (mola mola)
size: 10 feet (3 meters) long, weighs up to 5,100 pounds (2,300 kilograms)
habitat: temperate and tropical waters of oceans worldwide
diet: mainly jellyfish
seagull
size: 20 inches (½ meter) long
habitat: seacoasts worldwide
diet: fish, shellfish, insects, and worms
hippopotamus
size: up to 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms)
habitat: rivers and lakes in Africa
diet: grass and water plants
African helmeted turtle
size: 6 inches (15 centimeters) long
habitat: wet areas throughout Africa
diet: insects, fish, snails, algae, and water plants
clownfish
size: 6 inches (15 centimeters) long
habitat: southern Pacific coral reefs
diet: algae, plankton, and undigested food from their host anemones
sea anemone
size: 3 feet (91 centimeters) in diameter (the anemone associated with the clownfish)
habitat: shallow Indo-Pacific Ocean waters
diet: fish, mussels, and zooplankton
warthog
size: up to 5 feet (1½ meters) long
habitat: savannahs, woodlands, and grasslands of Africa
diet: plants, eggs, small animals, and dead animals (carrion)
mongoose
size: 12 inches (30 centimeters) long
habitat: African grasslands and forests
diet: insects, lizards, snakes, and eggs
marine iguana
size: 4 feet (11/ meters) long
habitat: rocky shores of the Galápagos Islands
diet: marine algae
Sally Lightfoot crab
size: 3 inches (7V2 centimeters) across
habitat: warm coasts of the Americas and Africa
diet: algae, dead fish and birds, and marine iguana parasites and skin
remora
size: 2 feet
(60 centimeters) long
habitat: warm ocean waters worldwide
diet: parasites and leftover scraps
tiger shark
size: 13 feet (4 meters) long
habitat: warm coastal waters worldwide
diet: fish, seals, birds, squid, turtles, and dolphins
cleaner wrasse
size: 4 inches (10 centimeters) long
habitat: rocky sea floors and coral reefs
diet: the parasites of other fish
tang
size: up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long
habitat: northern Pacific Ocean
diet: algae and parasites
green sea turtle
size: 5 feet (1½ meters) long
habitat: warm oceans worldwide
diet: sea plants
social weaver
size: 7 inches (18 centimeters) long
habitat: southern Africa
diet: insects
African pygmy falcon
size: 8 inches (20 centimeters) long
habitat: eastern and southern Africa
diet: insects, small reptiles, and mammals
black tree ants
size: ⅙ inch (4 millimeters) long
habitat: trees in the forests of Southeast Asia and Africa
diet: plant material
rufous woodpecker
size: 9 inches (23 centimeters) long
habitat: India and Southeast Asia
diet: ants and other insects, fruit, and sap
tuatara
size: up to 32 inches (81 centimeters) long
habitat: small islands of New Zealand
diet: earthworms, slugs, and insects
Cook’s petrel
size: 11 inches (28 centimeters) long
habitat: sea shores of the Pacific Ocean
diet: fish and shellfish
goby
size: up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) long
habitat: shallow ocean waters worldwide
diet: worms and other small invertebrates
blind shrimp
size: 2 inches (5 centimeters) long
habitat: southern Pacific Ocean coral reefs
diet: plankton and dead animals
pea crab
size: ⅜ inch (1 centimeter) across
habitat: oceans worldwide
diet: plankton and algae
giant clam
size: 4 feet (122 centimeters) across
habitat: Indo-Pacific ocean
diet: algae
meat ant
size:⅜ inch (9 millimeters) long
habitat: throughout Australia
diet: plants and live and dead animals
leafhopper
size: nymph, ⅓ inch (8 millimeters) long; adult, ½ inch (13 millimeters) long
habitat: plants worldwide
diet: plants and plant sap
blue butterfly
size: caterpillar, ½ inch (13 millimeters); butterfly, 2-inch (5-centimeter) wingspan
habitat: meadows in Europe
caterpillar diet: flowers, then ant larvae
butterfly diet: flower nectar
red ant
size: 1/5 inch (5 millimeters) long
habitat: central Europe, Asia, and North America
diet: insects and honeydew excreted by aphids
domestic dog
size: 3 pounds (1,300 grams) to 180 pounds (81 kilograms)
habitat: human habitations worldwide
diet: meat and grain, table scraps, and small animals
For Page, Alec, and Jamie
Text copyright © 2010 by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page
Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Steve Jenkins
All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Hough
ton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children is an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
www.hmhbooks.com
The text of this book is set in Dave Gibbons Lower. The illustrations are collages of cut and torn paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file.
ISBN 978-0-547-24515-7
Printed in Singapore
TWP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
4500202843
To learn more about animal symbiosis:
Coyote and Badger.
By Bruce Hiscock. Boyds Mills Press, Inc., 2001
How Animals Live.
By Bernard Stonehouse and Esther Bertram.
Scholastic Reference, 2004.
Perfect Partners.
By John Woodward. Heinemann Library, 2004.
The Usborne World of Animals.
By Susanna Davidson and Mike Unwin.
Usborne Books, 2005.
The Way Nature Works.
By John D. Beazley.
Macmiillan Publishing Company, 1992.
The Wonders of Life on Earth.
By the editors of Time and Lincoln Barnett. Time Inc., 1960.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Front
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