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Life in the wild is tough. Finding food is not easy. Staying safe is hard. Each day, animals struggle to survive.

To get by, some animals pair up. The two kinds of animals may be very different. Yet they live together. This is a symbiotic relationship.

Does that sound good? It may not be. Take ticks, for example.

Ticks drink blood. To get it, they hang onto other animals. The ticks bite. That can make animals sick.

Other animal pairs work better. Each animal helps the other. Let's see how that works.

Some animals help others stay clean. Cleaner shrimps do that. They live in the sea at cleaning stations.

To get clean, a dirty fish stops by. A shrimp climbs onto the fish. The shrimp has tiny claws. The claws pick dead skin and pests off the fish.

The hungry shrimp eats what it picks. The fish gets cleaned.

Shrimps are not the only cleaners. So are plovers. These brave birds clean crocodile teeth. Crocs cannot do that themselves.

The plovers eat tiny animals stuck to a croc's teeth. It's a good trade. Birds get food. Crocs get clean teeth.

Like plovers, oxpeckers are birds. They ride on giraffes, rhinos, and other big buddies.

The big animals don't mind. Why not? Well, the birds eat ticks and bugs. That's good for the big animals.

In return, the birds get plenty of food. It's a perfect pairing!

Some animals like the same food. Both the honeyguide bird and the ratel love honey. So they team up.

The bird finds a beehive. Then the ratel uses sharp claws to tear it open. Both animals get a sweet treat.

Sea animals also work together. The sea anemone and the clownfish make a great team.

Sea anemones have long, wavy arms. They are called tentacles. These arms catch fish by stinging them. Most fish stay away from anemones.

The clownfish is different. It hides among the tentacles. That way, bigger fish don't try to eat it.

The clownfish has a thick layer of mucus, or slime. It keeps the clownfish from being stung. So the clownfish can hide safely.

The clownfish helps the anemone get food. How? The clownfish is colorful. It stands out. Hungry fish can spot it easily.

Sometimes a fish swims over. The anemone stings and eats it.

All animals want to survive. For some, that means living with or near other kinds of animals.

At first, these odd couples may seem strange. Look again.

These pairs help one another find food, get clean, and stay safe. Each animal helps the other get the most out of life.

Article by Amy Sarver. Top-of-page photo © Frank Lukasseck/zefa/Corbis. "Odd Couples" appears on pages 6-11 of our January-February 2006 issue.

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