Leah Mousseri - Week 4 - An Unlikely Alliance
Most relationships in nature consist of predator and prey, but there are symbiotic relationships in nature such as dogs and humans or clownfish and anemones. But what if I told you there was a match that most would be shocked to find out about? Certain frogs around the world have been able to form mutually beneficial relationships with big, furry arachnids. Many spiders, such as the fishing spider and huntsman spider, have been known to prey on frogs and eat them, but microhylid, narrow-mouthed, frogs seem to develop close relationships with large spiders in places such as Peru, India, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere.
Species of spiders in Africa have been seen picking up certain frogs, examining them, and then putting them back down unharmed. This is due to their skin toxins and is the main reason why spiders don’t eat microhylids. The frog seems to stick close to the spider and eat the bugs that are attracted to their discarded food remains as well as gain protection against snakes or other spiders. However, this is not a one-sided relationship. These microhylids eat ants that tend to prey on spider eggs, so the frogs help to protect their eggs. In other words, the frog gains a bodyguard and the spider gets a babysitter.
As cute as their friendship already seems, it’s even deeper. In an experiment done by Siliwal & Ravichandran in 2008, the frog skin from a partner of a spider was placed on another frog that would normally be eaten by these spiders. When the arachnid was near the frog it didn’t show any signs of aggression. This shows that spiders will remember their little frog buddies and will do no harm to them. Also, these cute friends will even become roommates and share a tree hole together. These homes have even contained eggs from both species and spiders have been seen killing geckos or other animals that try to harm frog eggs. I like to think they raise their children together and they have little spider and frog birthday parties where they’re all one big happy family.
I think opposites attract in some scenarios, such as this one. The Nile crocodile and the Egyptian plover bird have a bizarre relationship. You'd expect the crocodile to eat this bird; nevertheless, these two animals are partners. These birds clean up the decomposing meat that gets stuck in between the crocodiles teeth.
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ReplyDeleteI think that there are definitely certain cases where opposites do attract. In addition to this, there are proven studies showing that people with different but complementary personalities often stay in friendships longer. This is something I myself can confirm, as all of my close friends have very different personalities from myself. So yes, I agree that in many cases like this one, opposites do attract.
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