When we think of the animal kingdom, some of us imagine ferocious beasts hunting their prey. Wild animals constantly at odds with each other in a survival of the fittest may be the norm, but it’s not always a dog eat dog world. Sometimes unlikely friendships form between surprisingly different types of animals.
Take Bubbles and Bella, an African elephant and a black dog who met at an animal park in South Carolina. Bella and Bubbles couldn’t be more different. Bubbles is an elephant who weighs in at over four tons and stands nine feet tall. She was adopted by the animal park after her parents were killed by poachers. Bella the dog, on the other hand, is smaller than Bubbles’ entire head and is a South Carolina native. Most of us would never expect these two polar opposites to get along. And yet, Bubbles and Bella are as thick as thieves. They can be found together day in and day out, playing fetch, splashing in the water, and snuggling up to each other.
The bonds between animals can even go beyond friendship. At Haller Park, in Kenya, a 130-year-old tortoise named Mzee has ‘adopted’ an orphaned baby hippo named Owen. After Owen was orphaned, Mzee took him under his wing and tended to the baby animal as if he were his parent. Elsewhere in Kenya, a wild lioness adopted a baby antelope after killing its mother and has since adopted five more little antelopes as her own.
So how is it possible for elephants and dogs, or lions and antelopes to build bridges between their very different species? According to some scientists, the answer might lie in the fact that animals aren’t so different from us after all. It turns out that animals, like humans, have a strong desire for companionship and interaction. The reason animals form interspecies friendships, these scientists say, is simple and visceral: the universal desire to connect with, play with, and learn from another being. After all, we all need a friend sometimes, no matter how wild and exotic that friend may be.
References:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4754996
http://dailynewsdig.com/elephant-dog-friends-myrtle-beach-safari/
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/science/so-happy-together.html?_r=1
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/12/world/5-little-oryxes-and-the-big-bad-lioness-of-kenya.html
When we think of animals, some of us imagine scary beasts. Wild animals at odds with each other may be normal, but it’s not always a dog eat dog world. Sometimes friendships happen between surprisingly different types of animals.
Take Bubbles and Bella, an African elephant and a black dog who met at an animal park in South Carolina. Bella and Bubbles couldn’t be more different. Bubbles is an elephant who weighs over four tons and is nine feet tall. She was adopted by the animal park after her parents were killed by hunters. Bella the dog, on the other hand, is smaller than Bubbles’ head. Most of us would never expect these two polar opposites to get along. And yet, Bubbles and Bella are as thick as thieves. Day in and day out, they play and snuggle together.
The connections between animals can even go beyond friendship. In Kenya, a 130-year-old tortoise named Mzee has ‘adopted’ an orphaned baby hippo named Owen. Mzee took him under his wing and tended to the baby animal as if he were his parent. Elsewhere in Kenya, a wild lioness adopted a baby antelope after killing its mother. She has since adopted five more little antelopes as her own.
So how is it possible to build bridges between these very different animals? These animals might not be so different from us after all. It turns out that animals, like humans, also need friendship. There is a universal desire to connect with, play with, and learn from another being. After all, we all need a friend sometimes, no matter how wild and different that friend may be.
References:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4754996
http://dailynewsdig.com/elephant-dog-friends-myrtle-beach-safari/
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/science/so-happy-together.html?_r=1
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/12/world/5-little-oryxes-and-the-big-bad-lioness-of-kenya.html
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