Mutualism By Nature

'A cattle egret riding a cattle?'

'Yes, I have seen it many times' is the spot answer.

'A black cormorant riding a turtle in a pond?' was our next query. 

It drew a blank. We chose a picture of a cormorant taking a joyride perched on a turtle's back for the 71st edition of our online captions contest Kaun Banega Ghumakkad KBG-71. More on the Contest later.

What are some more examples of Nature's friends similar to a cormorant and a turtle? Another name for this behaviour is mutualism. According to the Encyclopedia of Ecology, Mutualism is defined as an interaction between individuals of different species that results in positive (beneficial) effects on per capita reproduction and/or survival of the interacting populations. Here are some examples of mutualistic relationships.

Aphids and ants.

Coral and algae.

Oxpeckers and large mammals.

Clownfish and anemones.

Honeyguides and humans.

One of the above pairs which we have observed is an African Wildebeest and a bird called an oxpecker. Readers may read more about the wildebeest on the website of African Wildlife Foundation. It is very well documented. Wildebeest is also called the 'Gnu'. Oxpeckers are endemic to the savanna of Sub-Saharan Africa. In local parlance, it is also known as the Rhino's Guard. The behaviour of oxpeckers towards large mammals was previously thought to be an example of mutualism, though recent research suggests the relationship is parasitic in nature. Be that as it may, here is a picture of an oxpecker riding a wildebeest in open grassland of Tanzania, Africa. Picture courtesy Anand Jain.

You may have observed a kitten making friends with a pet dog. We are sharing a picture and a short video of our aged dog who was almost blind and a stray kitten playing in our front yard in Secunderabad India. 

Enjoy a short 40-second video clip how the stray kitten plays with a dog who can not see.

A common misconception about egrets riding a cattle is that the egrets eat the ticks on the cattle's skin. Actually, the egrets walk with the cattle to catch the insects and flies which get disturbed due to cattle's movement on ground. See the pictures below.

Here is another picture of a cattle egret enjoying the buffalo ride in Kolleru lake. PC Umesh Mani.

Another example of mutualism is a Black Drongo and a Sheep. See the picture taken in Pulicat lake by Umesh Mani.

Turtle and Tortoise

Coming back to KBG-71 Contest which featured a cormorant taking a joyride on a turtle. What is the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?

Tortoises are exclusively land creatures. They live in a variety of habitats, from deserts to wet tropical forests. Whereas turtles live in water. However, most sea turtles take to land only when they are laying eggs. On the other hand, tortoises don’t have much to do with water other than drinking it and occasionally bathing in it! Both turtles and tortoises look similar on the surface and belong to the same order Testudines or Chelonia, reptiles having bodies encased in a bony shell. Readers may refer the Britannica for further details. Here is another picture of a cormorant.

The Contest

KBG-71 received a whopping 61 captions. We thank all the participants for their creative captions which are listed below.

No.	Name	Caption for KBG-71 Contest
1	Ajai Bhumri	दोस्ती को नज़र न लगे
2	Amandeep Kaur	Turtle ride because petrol is so costly.
3	Arun Somani	Happy to be your ride!
4	Avinash Tiwari	Gagan Chari ka Jal Vihar
5	Avinash Tiwari	Kashti ka khamosh safar tanhaiyon mein
6	BC Jayaprakash	Enjoying my free ride...slow and steady too.
7	Bharat Ladha	Friendship has no barriers
8	Bharat Ladha	धर्म निरपेक्ष
9	BR Natarajan	When you are in deep waters, better to take help of Tortoise instead of Rabbit !!
10	C Raghuram	Shell under test? Don’t ponder…. It's me, taking a rest, just wonder
11	Deepak Jena	Ye dosti hum nahi todenge.
12	Deepak Jena	We both are best friends, and we communicate just with Face Expressions.
13	Deepak Jena	Hold a true friend and don't let go. True friend comes once in a lifetime.
14	Deepak Jena	Friendship is blessed on Trust.
15	Geeta Bhargava	Together we can.
16	Gian Prakash	A friend in need is a friend indeed
17	GR Sreenivasan	Cute photography of this smart bird enjoying her ride on her friends back.
18	J Ramamoorty	Live raft
19	Jaishankar	Aircraft Carrier
20	Jyoti Dixit	Glorious friendship
21	Kapil Tikku	Slow and steady wins the race!
22	KV Ramachandran	Strange Friendship
23	LS Bhargava	A joy ride.
24	Mukul Bhargava	A friend in need is a friend indeed
25	MV Vasudevan	Bird on an Amphibian
26	Narendra Soni	तू और मै, मिलकर बने हम
27	Naresh Kumar	Co existence
28	Neelima Paroolkar	अकेलाssss हूँ मैं! इस दुनियाssss में,  कोई साथी हो, तो मेरा साया ….! The saya can be seen of this bird in the pond.
29	Nidhi Bhargava	Ye dosti hum nahin todenge, todenge dum magar tera saath na chodenge.
30	Nidhi Bhargava	Tere jaisa yaar kahan, kahan aisa yaarana.
31	NN Pashupathy	Easy Rider!
32	Poonam Bhargava	A true friend never feels the weight in friendship
33	Poonam Bhargava	मित्र के सुख में ही मेरा सुख निहित है
34	Prabha Shankar	Perfect Acupressure
35	Prabha Shankar	Hum Sath Sath Hain
36	Pradeep Siwach	Le chal us paar
37	PRR Rao	Situational Leadership
38	Radhika Sareen	Together we can sail.
39	Radhika Sareen	Slow and steady ready to sail.
40	Radhika Sareen	काश मैं तुमको भी साथ उड़ा सकती इस उंचे आसमां में…
41	Rajendra Singh	Enjoying a free ride on my sail boat !
42	Rakesh Bajaj	Navigator and Engineer
43	Ramanand Baliga	Backing a friend!
44	Ranajit Sen	Orre majhi! Paar lagaa de
45	Rashmi Bhargava	Chal kahi door nikal jae
46	RB Dhavare	Slow pace but giving Space.
47	Ritu Bhargava	True friends are always together.
48	Ritu Bhargava	There is love and trust in true friendship.
49	Ruma Purkayastha	Gliding torty back The Fisherman's friend I'm shy but friendly !!
50	Shereen Sultana	It's a long way to go, My friend! But together we can make it happen.
51	Shravan Laddha	Har ek friend zaroori hota hai!
52	Shyamala Charyulu	One should learn to take a smooth ride on the hardships of our life.
53	Susmita Ganguly	I get by with a little help from my friends. (Song by Beatles)
54	Swayam Misra	King of the Pond...
55	Veeky Baths	यूँही कट जाएगा सफर साथ चलने से की मंज़िल आएगी नज़र साथ चलने से
56	Vinod Dhanuka	Saathi Haath Badhana
57	Vinod Dhanuka	1+1 is 11
58	Vishweshwaran	Gladly anything for a friend.
59	VV Ramani	Unexpected friendship: Ukraine expecting from rest of the world
60	VV Ramani	Beautiful things do not just happen!
61	Yogesh	Symbiosis

The Winners of KBG-71

Our Jury has selected four winning captions which are reproduced below along with a brief intro of the creative authors.

Rakesh Bajaj loves travelling, solves at least two Sudokus every day and is an ardent bridge player. His crisp caption 'Navigator and Engineer' had an instant appeal. Rakesh is a former Rear Admiral of Indian Navy and an alumnus of NIT, Trichy and IIT Delhi. Firm belief in 'so far so good' keeps him smiling always!

'Aircraft carrier' was Jaishankar's caption which hooked the Jury. A former Colonel, he has won the KBG contests several times. A blogger and an adventurer, Jai loves nature and wildlife.

Amandeep Kaur has won several KBG contests. An MBA in Finance, she loves travelling and interacting with people. Her caption 'Turtle ride because petrol is so costly' gave another perspective to the contest picture.

Narendra Soni is a Revenue Service professional who holds a masters in Life Sciences. A keen naturalist, Narendra's caption in Hindi 'तू और मैं, मिलकर बने हम' brought out the team spirit shown in the picture. It means 'You and I together become we'. He has won several KBG contests in the past.

We thank Anchita and Akanksha, our Jury members from California for their time and continued support to the KBG Contest.

We are happy that we could feature KBG-71 which brought out Mutualism, Nature's mechanism to sustain the ecology and the environment, during the World Wildlife Day (3rd March 2022). We end with a PQ- picturesque quote by Ghumakkad "Friends are your vaccine for the pandemic". That is Ghumakkad's grandson making friends with our dog Elfo. You may read the obit 'Who will nudge me now?' when we lost Elfo a few years ago.

Hope you enjoyed reading about Nature's friends. Look out for KBG-72 which will take you to Africa.

Stay connected and stay safe.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 7th March, 2022

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