This series examines particular aspects of animal behaviour or the relationship between animals and their environment. In this illustrated book the author aims to introduce children to the world of symbiosis in which two species of animals form a partnership. He explains the meaning of symbiosis and discusses how and why animals form partnerships using the example of the pea crab which lives inside mussel shells, feeding off parasites which otherwise would harm the mussel. The author describes parasites that live on and in many animals, such as fleas, mosquitoes and sheep ticks, which often harm the host animal, and other partnerships of mutual benefit, such as that between plants and animals that form coral. Feeding partnerships such as that between the honey badger and honey guide, and lookout partnerships between impala and baboons are described together with that between cleaning animals and the hosts they clean, such as ox-peckers on antelope and Egyptian plovers on crocodiles. Later chapters examine the partnership between ants and various plants and insects, and the vital partnership betwen pollinating insects and flowering plants.
Finally, the author looks at the partnerships between animals and people, for example farm animals, pets and guide dogs. Malcolm Penny has produced several wildlife documentaries for Survival Anglia TV and is author of other books in "The Animal Kingdom" series.
- ISBN10 1852104163
- ISBN13 9781852104160
- Publish Date 10 September 1988
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 21 April 2005
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Hachette Children's Group
- Imprint Hodder Wayland
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 32
- Language English