Can Animals Really Make Friends With Other Species?

[ashling]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2013/11/29/animal_friendships_cross_species_relationships_in_captivity_and_the_wild.html

Animals can forge bonds across species boundaries if the need for social contact pre-empts their normal biological imperatives. A cat raised with dogs doesn’t know it’s a cat, the logic goes.

***

Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, who has written several books on animal emotions, believes wholeheartedly in such bonds. He told me, “I think the choices animals make in cross-species relationships are the same as they’d make in same-species relationships. Some dogs don’t like every other dog. Animals are very selective about the other individuals who they let into their lives.” Even predators and prey (including his dog and a bunny) can form relationships—which as he points out requires “incredible trust” from the prey animal.

Anthropologist Barbara King from the College of William & Mary says she and other scientists have documented a number of animals, ranging from dogs to hippos to apes, that make bonds with animals of another species. If one dies, the survivor grieves. An elephant named Tarra was close to a dog named Bella and grieved after Bella was killed by coyotes. King says she has also been moved by the relationship between Owen the hippo and a 100-year-old tortoise named Mzee. “In this friendship that formed over years, they worked out a system of cross-species communications,” says King. In some cases, the biggest risk in cross-species friendships isn’t getting eaten. It’s emotional loss

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Who was it who said...

The more we know, the more we discover what we don't know.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

2. No.

http://love.theanimalrescuesite.com/learning-to-compromise-almost/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=cotd&utm_campaign=learning-to-compromise-almost&utm_term=20131203

[Locut0s]

3. That's right buddy. I'm layin in yo bed. What you going to do about it?...

Nothing. That's what, so fuck you!

Cats are ass holes

[Locut0s]

4. It's amazing how many people deny that animals have many of the same emotions we do...

I've seen people time and again deny that dogs, cats, and many other animals lack the same emotions people do. I guess it makes them feel uncomfortable to admit being on largely the same level as other animals. From an evolutionary perspective it makes perfect sense that we share many, if not most of the same emotions.

[hunter]

5. Cheetahs and dogs are often raised together.

Cheetahs are very nervous around people and the dogs keep them calm.

The nervous cheetahs who need a canine companion to get them relaxed enough to breed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2277839/Nervous-cheetahs-helping-paw-companion-dogs-battle-extinction-captivity-wild.html

We used to have a dog and a rabbit who would play. The dog would be sleeping in the sun and the rabbit would run up and nip at the dog until the dog chased it. They'd run like mad all over the yard until they were both worn out, and then they'd sleep in the sun some more.

It was perfectly clear they were friends, no doubt about it.

[ashling]

6. A conversation I would like to be in on