Queer Friendships 



amusement or necessity we cannot say, the fish bites a 

 piece from the tentacles or body of the jelly-fish 

 and, as is only fitting, the jelly-fish occasionally captures 

 and devours the fish it has protected. Why such a pre- 

 carious companionship should exist it is by no means 

 easy to guess. 



Friendship between a crab and a pond mussel seems 

 to savour of the improbable, yet such a case is quite 

 common. Now a crab is usually a hard-shelled creature, 

 armed with many sharp angles and often spines which, 

 it would appear, must certainly endamage the flesh of 

 the mussel, seeing that it is as soft as that of the familiar 

 oyster. This particular crab, however, is especially well 

 adapted for the life he has chosen ; all his sharp angles 

 have been dispensed with and he is as smooth and round 

 as a pea, in fact he is called the pea-crab. 



The active little creature spends all his time within 

 easy reach of his protector the mussel ; at the slightest 

 sign of danger he dashes back into the mussel shell and 

 hides himself among the sheltering fold of the shell-fish, 

 at the same time the valves are closed. In this case the 

 partnership is mutually beneficial : the crab warns the 

 mussel of impending danger and, in return, is protected 

 by the shell of the bivalve. 



Partnerships of a similar nature, where one partner 

 receives certain benefits in return for giving warning of 

 danger, are quite common. The oxpecker or rhinoceros 

 bird is never so happy as when perched on the back of 

 some friendly rhinoceros or other big game, picking, here 

 and there, a dainty morsel in the shape of some tasty 

 tick. At the slightest hint of danger the bird flies away 

 and the rhino prepares to beat a hasty retreat or to 

 attack, as the case may be. Those much-persecuted birds, 

 the egrets, perform similar offices for elephants. The 

 " beef-eater " birds, which find their sustenance in warbles 

 on the backs of buffalo, and the Egyptian split-winged 

 and black-headed plovers, friends of the crocodile, from 



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