|Shy Elk and Bold Birds Become Partners in the Wilderness

https://nyti.ms/2BxZC3B

In this article, a few studies are outlined which indicate that mutualistic relationships may be dependent on individual personalities. Thus mutualism may not be as straightforward as often depicted when one investigates these relationships with higher resolution.

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Bolder elk and magpies exhibited riskier behaviors like tolerating the experimenter, approaching novel objects and fending off animals. About half of the elk let magpies land, and just over half the magpies landed on the fake elk. And it was the shy elk and bold magpies that were more likely to engage.

This was counterintuitive for an elk: eyeballs offer easy targets for hungry magpies. But magpies also eat winter ticks.