please unmute this
So if I’m understanding it right, this is basically the equivalent of stopping by a coworker’s house to pick up something and next they disappear and their toddler comes out of some room with a sticky toy phone and hands it to you and you’re just left there like an idiot like UHHHM THAT’S NICE and THANK YOU? and also ANYWAY IS YOUR DAD AWAKE YET? HELLO? ANYONE? and walking into a door as you try to get away.
Some cold, wet mornings, you’ll find the hornbill, sitting atop the termite mound that the Mongoose have taken refuge in over night, waiting for it’s band of companions to rouse. A little impatiently it seems, it sometimes taps on the mound, quite insistently. Before long, the band of mongoose start to emerge from the warm interior, ready to start searching for a morsel or two.
As they forage through the shrubs and grass, the hornbill perches on branches above, snapping up any unfortunate insects, disturbed by the mongoose. What does the mongoose get out of this, apart from a rude awakening? Well, since the hornbill gets an easy meal, the mongoose gets in return, greater safety that the hornbill’s higher vantage point gives them. Should the hornbill spot something dangerous, an eagle or another ground predator, it will utter an alarm calls, sending the mongoose scurrying to the nearest shelter.
This is known as mutualism. Both species are benefiting from the other with neither being negatively affected.