Unlikely Friendships : 47 Remarkable Stories From the Animal Kingdom

For Kate, Will, Elliott, and Jasper. And for Mom, of course.

Copyright © 2011 by Jennifer S. Holland
Design copyright © by Workman Publishing

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced—mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying—without written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eISBN 9780761165316

Design by Raquel Jaramillo

Photo credits: COVER: CNImaging/Photoshot. INTERIOR:
p. iii
, CNImaging/Photoshot;
p. iv
,
p. vii
, © Twycross Zoo;
p. vi
top left, © Ron Cohn/Gorilla Foundation/koko.org;
pp. vi
–vii, © Helen J. Arnold;
p. vii
bottom right,
p. xiv
© Rex USA;
p. xiii
, Jennifer Hayes;
p. 3
,
p. 4
,
p. 5
, © Rex USA;
p. 6
, © dpa/Landov;
p. 8
, © EPA/ALEXANDER RUESCHE/Landov;
p. 9
, © Associated Press/Fritz Reiss;
p. 10
,
p. 13
, Lisa Mathiasen and Julia Di Sieno;
p. 14
, © Barb Davis, Best Friends Volunteer;
p. 18
,
p. 21
, © 2011 Zoological Society of San Diego;
p. 22
,
p. 24
, © Elizabeth Ann Sosbe;
p. 26
,
p. 29
, © Johanna Kerby;
p. 30
, © Jennifer Hayes;
p. 34
,
p. 37
, © Barbara Smuts;
p. 38
,
p. 41
, Solentnews.co.uk;
p. 42
,
p. 45
, Melanie Stetson Freeman/© 2006 The Christian Science Monitor;
p. 46
,
p. 48
,
p. 49
, Laurie Maxwell/Jonathan Jenkins;
p. 50
, Bob Pennell/Mail Tribune;
p. 54
,
p. 57
,
p. 58
,
p. 59
, © Ron Cohn/Gorilla Foundation/koko.org;
p. 60
, © Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve;
p. 64
,
p. 66
,
p. 67
, © Rina Deych;
p. 68
,
p. 71
, © Rohit Vyas;
p. 72
, Miller & Maclean;
p. 76
, BARCROFT/FAME;
p. 79
,
p. 80
,
p. 81
, noahs-ark.org;
p. 82
, THE NATION/AFP/Getty Images;
p. 86
, Göran Ehlmé;
p. 86
, CNImaging/Photoshot;
p. 90
,
p. 93
,
p. 94
, Anne Young;
p. 96
,
p. 99
, Bob Muth;
p. 100
, © Associated Press;
p. 104
,
p. 107
, Lion Country Safari;
p. 108
,
p. 111
, © Jeffery R. Werner/
IncredibleFeatures.com
;
p. 112
,
p. 114
,
p. 115
, ZooWorld, Panama City Beach, FL;
p. 116
,
p. 119
, Dimas Ardian/Getty Images;
pp. 121
–122, © Associated Press/Achmad Ibrahim;
p. 122
,
p. 125
, SWNS;
p. 126
,
p. 129
, © Rex USA;
p. 130
,
p. 133
, Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times;
p. 134
, Göran Ehlmé;
p. 138
,
p. 141
.
pp. 142
–143, © Helen J. Arnold;
p. 144
,
p. 147
,
pp. 148
–149, BARCROFT/FAME;
p. 150
,
p. 153
, Lauren E. Rhodes;
p. 154
,
p. 157
, Maggie Szpot;
p. 158
,
p. 161
, © Associated Press;
p. 162
,
p. 165
,
p. 167
, BARCROFT/FAME;
p. 168
,
p. 171
,
p. 173
, BARCROFT/FAME;
p. 174
,
p. 177
, © Omer Armoza;
p. 178
,
p. 181
, Deb and Terry Burns;
p. 182
, Norbert Rosing/National Geographic Stock;
p. 186
,
p. 189
, Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images;
p. 190
, © Associated Press;
p. 194
, © Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve;
p. 198
, © Houston Zoo;
p. 202
,
p. 203
, © Twycross Zoo;
p. 204
, © Jennifer Hayes.

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47 R
EMARKABLE
S
TORIES
from the
A
NIMAL
K
INGDOM

by
JENNIFER S. HOLLAND

Workman Publishing, New York

“If two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?”
—Ecclesiastes 4:11

I
NTRODUCTION

The African Elephant and the Sheep

The Asiatic Black Bear and the Black Cat

The Bobcat Kitten and the Fawn

The Bobtailed Dog and the Bobtailed Cat

The Cheetahs and the Anatolian Shepherds

The Cockatoo and the Cat

The Dachshund and the Piglet

The Diver and the Manta Ray

The Donkey and the Mutt

The Duckling and the Kookaburra

The Elephant and the Stray Dog

The Ferrets and the Big Dogs

The Golden Retriever and the Koi

The Gorilla and the Kitten

The Hippopotamus and the Pygmy Goat

The Iguana and the House Cats

The Leopard and the Cow

The Lion Cub and the Caracal Siblings

The Lion, the Tiger, and the Bear

The Lioness and the Baby Oryx

The Macaque and the Dove

The Macaque and the Kitten

The Mare and the Fawn

The Monkeys and the Capybaras

The Mouflon and the Eland

The Nearsighted Deer and the Poodle

The Orangutan and the Kitten

The Orangutan Babies and the Tiger Cubs

The Owl and the Spaniel

The Owlet and the Greyhound

The Papillon and the Squirrel

The Photographer and the Leopard Seal

The Pit Bull, the Siamese Cat, and the Chicks

The Potbellied Piglet and the Rhodesian Ridgeback

The Rabbit and the Guinea Pig

The Rat and the Cat

The Red Pandas and the Mothering Mutt

The Rhinoceros, the Warthog, and the Hyena

The Rottweiler and the Wolf Pup

The Salty Dog and the Dolphins

The Seeing-Eye Cat and the Blind Mutt

The Sled Dog and the Polar Bear

The Snake and the Hamster

The Tortoise and the Hippo

The White Rhino and the Billy Goat

The Zebra and the Gazelle

A
FTERWORD

T
HE
A
UTHOR, THE
S
WEETLIPS, AND THE
P
UFFER
F
ISH

R
EFERENCES

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

A lion cub and a French bulldog share a drink together at Twycross Zoo in the U.K.

M
Y HUSBAND
J
OHN'S FIRST BEST FRIEND WAS A RACCOON
.
When a stray cat dropped the tiny fur ball into a neigh-bor's boot, ten-year-old John became the creature's caretaker, cupping it in the palms of his hands, dripping milk into its mouth with an eyedropper, and tucking it into a blanketed box at night, with a ticking clock to mimic a mother's heartbeat. John named the animal Bandit, and the raccoon grew up following him every-where—as he left for school, to the dinner table, even into the shower. Bandit sat on John's shoulder, shirt collar in its tiny grip and face into the wind, as the pair whizzed down the street on John's bike. And the raccoon slept curled up on John's pillow, cooing its animal dreams softly in the child's ear. No word but friendship could describe the bond shared by boy and raccoon.

It isn't unusual for human beings to connect with other
animals. Well over half of all U.S. households keep pets, spending more than $40 billion a year on their welfare. Studies show that encounters with pets can lower blood pressure, ease depression, and soothe the mental and physical pain of growing old—just a few of the countless ways animals enrich our lives.

Less common than a human–pet connection, and at first glance more surprising, is a bond between members of two different nonhuman species: a dog and a donkey, a cat and a bird, a sheep and an elephant. The phenomenon is most often reported in captive animals, in part because we simply catch them in the act more often. But it's also because, notes biologist and primate specialist Barbara King of the College of William & Mary, that's where constraints are relaxed, where the animals aren't fighting for their basic needs—which allows their emotional energy to flow elsewhere. Of course, there are cases of cross-species bonds in the wild, as well. “Most important,” King says, “we know animals, under whatever circumstances, have that capacity.”

Not all scientists are comfortable using a term like friendship when referring to nurturing or protective animal relations. For many years, “animals were to be described as machines, and students of animal behavior were to develop a terminology devoid of human connotations,” wrote primatologist Frans de Waal in
The Age of Empathy
. He himself has been criticized for attributing human traits to animals by biologists who believe
“anthropomorphic anecdotes have no place in science.”