What is the parastitc relationship?

Answer 1

A parasite is an animal that lives on another animal. The animal it lives on is called it's host. The parasite could jump on and jump off, like a mosquito, or it could live there permanently, like a louse. The parasite gets something off the host, some benefit. For a flea, for example, the animal it's on, say a dog, provides it with food (blood), shelter (skin/fur), and breeding grounds (if there are other fleas). The dog usually gets very itchy and sometimes even diseased from fleas. The parasite, the flea, benefits from the relationship and the host, the dog, is hurt (to some degree) by the relationship. That is the parasite host relationship, +/-.