Curious Collection of Wild Companions: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Inseparable Species

Bayly, Sami

Another fresh take on the animal kingdom from author and illustrator Sami Bayly: from the sloth and its friend the moth to the inseparable kinkajou and the balsa tree, a fully illustrated guide to companions across species

Heartwarming, surprising, and downright bizarre creature connections
 
Relationships can be complicated, and it’s no different in the wild. Meet 60 dynamic duos across the plant and animal kingdoms—from “aww” to “eek”!

The Eltham copper butterfly and the Notoncus ant are BFFs for life. The ants lovingly raise the butterflies’ caterpillar babies, while feasting on the sweet substance the caterpillars produce. Everybody wins in this prime example of mutualism.

The pseudoscorpian is a total freeloader. When it wants to get around, it boards the back of the giant harlequin beetle, in a one-sided setup called commensalism. 

Parasitism is where things get spooky. Learn how the green-banded broodsac (a type of flatworm) first invades the eyestalk of the amber snail, then tricks it into getting eaten by a bird—inside which the broodsac will grow up. Yikes!

Award-winning author and illustrator Sami Bayly shows us a whole world of wild companions like these—many endangered—and reminds us that we're all inseparable.