Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2009

THE JELLYFISH PILOT
The anadyomene has a problem: it has no eyes. But that doesn’t matter—it has the snow crab, which lives on its umbrella and feeds on the algae there. When an enemy approaches, the crab flees to the opposite side of the umbrella. The jellyfish feels the crab’s movement, reacts by fleeing, thus saving its own life and that of its pilot.

 
(Anadyomene Versuriga anadyomene, snow crab Brachyura) 

ALL HANDS ON DECK FOR BABYSITTING!
In each group of around 15 common marmosets, only the dominant female can bear offspring. Ovulation is suppressed in the other females. They are allowed to babysit, however. The dominant female also has a trick to ensure that the men do their bit too: She mates with several males, meaning that none of them know who the actual father is. Therefore they all share in the care of the young.

 
(Common marmoset Callithrix jacchus)

GIVE BLOOD, SAVE LIVES!
South American vampire bats are sensitive. After just two nights without a meal, they fall from the ceiling with hunger. Before it comes to this, they beg their fellow bats for a donation, which they usually receive. Their well-fed companions, who feast on horses and cows, simply bring up a little of the clotted blood from their stomachs and give their starving relatives a mouth-to-mouth infusion.

 
(True vampire bat Desmodontidae)

(Illustration: Silke Beneke)
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2009