Unlikely Friendships

Starred review from August 1, 2011
It is an image that went viral on the internet, an image that tugs at even the hardest heart: a tiny monkey, worry in its eyes, lays its head on the back of a white dove. National Geographic senior science writer Holland here collects 47 stories of unusual cross-species relationships accompanied by wonderful photos documenting the unquestionably positive nature of the interactions. As she points out in the introduction, evolutionary continuity means that the differences between animals and humans are differences in degree, not in kind, so why wouldn't animals of different species make friendships? She shares the stories of the mare that protected a newborn fawn from coyotes and the papillon spaniel that pulled an orphaned squirrel from its crate and raised it with her puppies. Predator befriends prey when a young leopard took to visiting a tethered Brahma cow at night, rubbing against her as she licked it. A golden retriever visits his koi every day as the fish nibbles the dog's paws, and the two touch noses. Koko, the famous signing gorilla, mothers her kitten, and Owen the orphaned hippopotamus befriends Mzee, the giant tortoise. Empathy and friendship are not strictly human emotions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)