Recently, an artistic photograph has captured the imagination of nature lovers everywhere. Taken by wildlife photographer Shaaz Jung in the jungles of South India, the mist-shrouded image shows a lone elephant standing behind a tree covered in haze.

Delicately perched on the tip of the elephant’s tusk is a small black myna bird.* Framed against smoky green foliage, the bird and elephant look at each other almost as if sharing a silent moment in mutual respect.

The photo beautifully illustrates a mutualistic relationship between two different species. The myna bird acts as a cleaner for the elephant by eating parasites such as lice or ticks that irritate its skin. Meanwhile, the elephant offers the bird a food source and a safe haven from predators.

Symbiotic, or mutualistic, relationships occur in nature when two species interact in ways that benefit each other. One species might get food or protection, and the other might receive cleaning, warning signals, or assistance that helps it survive.

Elsewhere in the African savannah, similar relationships occur for other birds such as cattle egrets* and oxpeckers.* These birds often perch on the backs of rhinos, oxen, and other large mammals and pick off insects. The hosts benefit from reduced irritation and sometimes alert the birds to danger.

Interestingly, these mutualistic partnerships do not only exist between animals. Acacia trees host ants that live in their hollow thorns and feed on nectar provided by the tree. In return, the ants defend the tree against herbivores that want to eat the tree’s leaves.

In the end, the beauty of relationships in Shaaz Jung’s photograph lies in the cooperation that helps species survive in the wild.

* myna bird 구관조

* cattle egret 황로, 붉은 백로

* oxpecker 소등쪼기새