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There are many strange partnerships in the world.
Crocodiles and sharks are ___1___
to be ferocious carnivores. yet, they would not ___2___
each other for anything in the world.
The crocodile has a little bird as a friend too,
the plover, ___3___
lives on the crocodile's back. The plover is often
seen ___4___
the crocodile's wide open mouth, hopping daringly
near it sharp teeth. This special friend ___5___
the crocodile picks out little bits of food ___6___
the reptile's teeth. It ___7___
pecks leeches and fleas from its gums.
The shark has a penchant ___8___
fresh fish, but it would ___9___
eat the tiny shoal of fish which swim beneath its
belly. These fish are called sucker-fish and they ___10___
a two-fold function. They lure larger fishes ___11___
the shark and they clean up the ___12___
of the shark's meal at the end of ___13___
feast.
The rhinocerous and the buffalo, too, ___14___
their helpmates. These come in the ___15___
of tick-birds and egrets. They ride on these grazing
bovines' ___16___
, feeding on the fleas and ticks which ___17___
otherwise harm these animals. Fleas and ticks suck
the blood ___18___
these animals and transmit diseases ___19___
them.
Such partnerships, known as symbiosis, ___20___
common in the animal kingdom.
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