Hi ,
What do a warthog and a mongoose have in common? Not much. They are completely different types of mammals, both found in South Africa. Warthogs are basically grazers, and eat a variety of plants, berries, bulbs, and roots. Mongooses, on the other hand, are active carnivores. They eat all kinds of bugs, lizards, rodents, and anything else they can catch. They are also known to take down venomous snakes, like cobras.
This fact has earned them quite a reputation!
But, the world of the warthog, and the world of the banded mongoose come together, on occasion, in a very remarkable way! There is a strange symbiotic relationship between these two very different creatures. They don't need each other to survive, but this strange relationship does prove mutually beneficial.
Warthogs, like many creatures, get plagued with pests, like ticks. Besides taking a mud bath when things are wet, they have no way of ridding themselves of these. But, they somehow know, when they see a pack of mongooses, that they are headed for relief. The mongooses, for their part, know inherently that they are going to get a free meal. So, they approach each other, and the warthog will lie down - and be groomed!
The mongooses will climb all over the warthog, ridding it of all the pests! When they're done, they go their separate ways, each satisfied with the encounter!
How does each creature, quite different from the other, know what to do as they approach the other? How does any symbiotic relationship happen? Or does it just happen? Or, are the creatures programmed to do this? If so, then there's design behind it! The two buttons below will take you to two short videos showing this unique event.
