Our relationship with animals is deeply peculiar, spanning the spectrum from besotted to breezily exploitative. Whether they are friends, pests, assets, dinner or catnip content creators, the relationship tends to be heavily skewed in our favour. We might look after our pets devotedly, but most animals aren’t so lucky in their encounters with us.
There are a few instances, however, where human interests and animals’ natural behaviours and inclinations more or less align. Most aren’t technically “mutualistic” interactions between two species that benefit both, like a clownfish hiding in and cleaning up its sea anemone. Even so, there is a cheering amount of win-win in a handful of our relationships with the natural world. Let’s take a look at some of that mutual back-scratching.
