Name: _____________________________
Date: ______________ Period: _________
Symbiotic Relationships
Directions:
Use your notes or book for this activity. For each of the animal pairs below, read the description and decide if
their relationship shows commensalism, mutualism or parasitism. Record your answer in the third column.
Animals
barnacle/whale
yucca plant/
yucca moth
mistletoe/spruce tree
honey guide bird/
badger
remora/shark
cuckoo/warbler (birds)
tapeworm/cat
ostrich/gazelle
silverfish/army ants
oxpecker/rhinoceros
mouse/flea
hermit crab/snail shell
fly/marabou stork
wrasse fish/
black sea bass
deer/tick
cowbird/bison
Description
Barnacles make whales their home usually by attaching
themselves around the whale’s mouth. Barnacles eat the
whale’s leftover scraps. This relationship does not harm or
benefit the whales.
Yucca flowers are pollinated by yucca moths. The moths lay
their eggs in the flowers where the larvae (babies) hatch and
eat some of the developing seeds. Both species benefit.
Mistletoe sucks water and nutrients from the spruce tree.
Honey guide birds alert and show badgers to beehives. The
badgers then open the beehives and feed on the honey first.
Then the honey guide birds eat.
The remora (a bony fish) temporarily attaches to the sharks
body. They travel with the shark and feed on the leftover
scraps from the shark’s meals. The sharks do not eat the
remora.
A cuckoo bird lays its eggs in a warbler’s nest. The cuckoo’s
babies will push out the warbler’s babies. The warbler
parents will raise the cuckoo’s babies.
The tapeworm grows inside the cat’s guts and gets nutrients
from the food that the cat has eaten. The cat does not get
enough nutrition.
Ostriches and gazelles feed next to each other. They both
watch for predators and alert each other to danger. Since the
visual abilities of the two species are different, they each can
identify threats the other animal would not see as well.
Silverfish live and hunt with army ants. They share the prey.
They do not help or harm the ants.
Oxpeckers feed on the ticks found on a rhinoceros
A flea feeds on a mouse’s blood, which harms the mouse.
Hermit crabs live in the abandoned shells of snails. This
relationship does not harm or benefit the snails.
The stork uses its saw-like bill to cut up the dead animals it
eats. The dead animal carcass is left open so flies can eat and
lay eggs in it.
Wrasse fish feed on the parasites found on the black sea
bass’s body
Ticks feed on deer blood which harms the deer
As bison walk through grass, insects become active and are
seen and eaten by cowbirds. This relationship does not harm
or benefit the bison.
Relationship
commensalism