Cynthia maguire,10, of Sarasota, Fla.., for her question:
What is a crocodile bird?
The crocodile of the Nile shares his muddy bath water with hosts of other animals. He can cope with the sizable fishes and water birds. In fact, he needs them for food. But some of the water bugs, leeches and other small creatures give him nothing but trouble. In order to cope with than, the crocodile needs the help of his friend, the crocodile bird.
The crocodile bird is a distant cousin of our handsome plovers, the killdeer and the spindly legged sandpiper. He is a neat, black and white bird with a crested head, and he struts on the long, thin lags which are so useful for wading along the shore. His native land is Africa, and his shores arc the banks of the muddy me.
The terror of these waters is the mighty crocodile. He swims along with never a telltale ripple or lies hidden in the murky water with only his eyes and nose above the surface. He is almost invisible to his victims, and his toothy jaws are always, always ready to snap shut on a fish, a turtle or a water fowl.
No bird, you would think, could be called a f'riend of the grinning crocodile. Surely no bird would be foolish enough to come near him. But this is not so. The crocodile and the crocodile bird are the best of friends. They give and take because they need each other.
All kinds of leeches and water bugs lurk in the muddy waters of the Nile, and many of them arc parasites which feed upon larger animals. Some of them fix themselves to the body of the crocodile and bore right through his scaly skin. Leeches infest the insides of his month where they attack the softer skin. Since he has no lips, the grinning crocodile cannot shut his mouth tight to keep out these parasites.
The crocodile birds feed on water bugs of all kinds, and somehow he knows that a few choice morsels are always to be found fixed to the crocodile. He and his relatives stroll over the huge body grubbing for food, and the crocodile does not mind then at all. In fact, he is eager to give away his parasites, and the bird is eager to take them. When other water birds come near him, the toothy monster grabs without warning but he does not hurt the crocodile bird.
In Africa, the crocodile bird is called the ziczac, and people there say that the bold bird. Will even walk right into the gaping mouth of the crocodile. The big fellow, maybe 30 feet long, keeps his jars wide open while his small friend picks out the bothersome, bloodsucking leeches from among, his teeth. When the bird is finished, the crocodile lets him stroll safely away or so they say.