Extraordinary Bonds: Exploring the Unbelievable World of Interspecies Friendships

The world of interspecies friendships is far more populous and wondrous than we have ever imagined. One only has to look around to see how members of different species bond with each other and grow fond of each other for a lifetime.

Bonedigger, the Lion and Milo, the Dog

In a wildlife park in Oklahoma, there lives a lion named Bonedigger and a dachshund named Milo who are friends for life. In 2013, news reports highlighted this unlikely friendship, observing that these two are inseparable. The dog behaves as if he owns the lion, and the lion becomes upset when the dog is not around.

How does a lion forget its killer instinct and form a friendship with a dog, despite no obvious benefit for the lion? How could the dog gather the courage to approach the lion that could kill him in all probability? Such unlikely and unbelievable friendships abound in the animal world as well as between humans and animals.

Knowledge about how different animal species understand and communicate with each other is still rudimentary. Apart from gestures, postures and vocalisation, animals also can communicate using chemical signals and similar intricate mechanisms. An eel sends communication signals using electricity, whereas a glow worm resorts to bioluminescence, and dolphins and bats use sound waves that sometimes cannot be heard by human ears. In the animal world, certain species have the oddest of communication modes; a tree frog uses a water hole to make its mating sound resonate manifold and be heard by the female frog. Despite this communication diversity being recorded and studied by science, the unanswered question lingers - why do animals form interspecies friendships with no apparent mutual benefit? Is this something just about the emotional quotient and unconditional love?

Researchers have found that Chimpanzees can form quite deep friendships which last for 10 years or more. Many primates, dolphins, some birds, and elephants are capable of making similar long-lasting friendships with other animals including humans. Studies have shown that Oxytocin, often dubbed the love hormone, plays a major role in inducing the emotion of friendship in both humans and other animals. After all, it is the same chemical that drives the friendships nurtured by a human and a lion or a dolphin.

Themba the Elephant and Albert the Sheep

In South Africa’s Shamwari Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, an elephant cub, Themba, who lost his mother in an accident was paired with a sheep named Albert by the Centre's staff. Though initially, Themba tried to chase Albert away, they took to each other quite well in a few days and became best friends. Both the friends were separated forever by destiny when Themba fell ill and died. It is evident that the love that Themba missed by the loss of his mother was in some way compensated by Albert's companionship. What Albert felt towards Themba could be a parent's affection or mere friendship. One would never know exactly what shaped that bonding.

In 2011, the unusual friendship between Tarra, the Asian elephant and Bella, the dog in the Hohenwald Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee came into public view. When Bella fell ill, the newspapers reported Tarra standing vigil for the entire number of days. The friendship came to an abrupt end when Bella was killed by coyotes.

Elephants, among the most intelligent and empathetic animals, are known to help injured herd members by bringing them food and water, and even grieving when a member dies. Elephants also are known to bring their injured to friendly humans for assistance. There are many reported stories about elephants deeply bonding with humans in societies where they are kept in captivity for tourism and religious purposes. 

Mausschen the Bear and Muschi the Cat

In Berlin Zoo, during the year 2000, Muschi the stray cat appeared in the enclosure of Mausschen the bear and they bonded instantaneously. The zookeepers feared that the bear would kill the cat. Instead, this odd couple began to share food and wait for each other when separated. The friendship lasted for more than a decade. Unlike an elephant or a dog or a cat, a bear is an animal that is ferocious and not a species conducive for domestication. Still, the cat found a place in its heart.

Sometimes even the prey and the predator form adorable friendships. The science behind this kind of behaviour is still in a foggy area of understanding.

Humans are Good at Interspecies Friendships

Recently there was a study that suggested that cows could recognize other cows they knew, from photographs. Also, they bond with humans. Atlantic reported that a 2009 survey of dairy farmers suggested that the cows that were named and called by these names, produced more milk.

Mary Trachsel, a professor of rhetoric famous for her work about biophilia and the need for humans reconnecting with it has published a scientific article that looks into the friendship between pigs and humans. She contrasts the pig friendship stories that abound in children’s literature with the pork industry that treats pigs in all inhumane ways. She cites King-Smith’s pig novels in which pig characters are introduced as food animals but through their intelligence and empathy, they gain for themselves the status of companion animals and live longer lives too. The question she raises is whether, at a certain stage of our progress as a civilisation, we need to rethink animal slaughter for food.

Humanity has long borne a collective guilt regarding the slaughter of animals for food. Vegetarianism and Veganism stand witness to this moral dilemma that we live with. The meat industry has always been in search of better ways to kill animals minimising their pain and fear. This dilemma is complex because we, as humans, are capable of forming deep friendships and feeling protective love towards the animals we eat; it is a double-faced predator-prey relationship. King-Smith's stories handle this dilemma by pointing to a non-violent solution but still a romantic and impractical one. However, recent developments in stem cell meat production technologies and the nascent attempts to commercialise stem cell meat reveal a new path opening to improve our predator-prey relationship with animals. Maybe, somewhere in the distant future, we might not need to eat our friends and neighbours belonging to other species but just live happily ever after with those furry and innocent-eyed souls.

How Do Animal Friendships Differ from Human Friendships?

During the 1970s, started a friendship with a gorilla named Koko in San Francisco Zoo, and the many cats and kittens she adopted as her dear friends. These friendships continued till 2018 when Koko died, aged 46. When her first cat named All Ball died, Koko literally cried, making a sound that gorillas make when they are sad. From a human perspective, there are a range of emotions associated with friendships, which include not only love and bonding but loss, conflicts, and hatred too. However, in animal friendships, we do not see the negative range of emotions once the friendship is settled. This is another intriguing mystery that if studied further could provide insights into the human psychology of friendship too.

Interspecies Symbiotic Relationships

The world of symbiotic relationships among members of different species is an altogether different realm where friendship has the added advantage of being mutually beneficial in an immediate sense. Sometimes these relationships are simply utilitarian and have nothing to do with friendships per se. For example, Red Bellied Oxpeckers often form a friendship with Black Rhinos to feed on the ticks and parasitic insects that infest the skin of the Rhinos. The Rhinos in return get a free tick removal. Cows and cattle egrets are another example of a similar symbiotic existence. The fish, True Goby and Pistol Shrimp not only share their burrows but also warn each other when there is the threat of a predator through chemical signals. Ants take Aphids, the small insects that suck the sap of certain plants, to their nests and protect them from predators; in return, they feed on the honeydew that is collected inside the Aphids' bodies using their antennas in a process similar to milking.

The Remora fish attach themselves to the bellies of sharks and feed on the parasites that infect shark skin. In the process, they get a free ride too. The carnivorous Pitcher plant provides its flower cup as a perching post for Woolly Bats and in return, the plants feed on the faeces of the bat. Columbian Leaseback Tarantulas keep small frogs in their burrow nests as cleaners of invading ants so that the Tarantula eggs are not eaten by ants. The bird, Egyptian Plover, has a very unlikely symbiotic friend- the ferocious Nile Crocodile. These birds walk literally inside the open mouths of Nile Crocodiles and pick insects and feed on the remnants of meat stuck between the crocodile teeth. The crocodile never tries to eat the Plover ever.

Interspecies Bonding: An Emerging Field

Interspecies bonding, whether it be for mere companionship or mutually beneficial arrangement, provides a peek into the different shades of friendship that exist in the animal world. To learn more about interspecies bonding might help human civilisation to define their relationship with each other and other species more ethically and humanely. The range of emotions animals can experience is far more complex and diverse than we often assume.

. The connection between happiness and social bonding is a well-established fact in humans but the same context applies to other species too. In the end, friendship could be serving the same purpose in all animal species including humans- a source of utility, hope, a sense of belonging, security, and love, all of which enhance the chances of survival in an unfair world.

References

Friendships in Animals, Jorg J M Massen, 2017, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321713202_Friendships_in_Animals

Unlikely Friendship of Elephant and Dog, November 4, 2011, CBS News.

Dachshund Milo & Bonedigger the Lion Continue to Behave Like an Old Married Couple, June 20, 2013, huffingtonpost.co.uk

8 Interspecies Animal Relationships Prove that Love is All You Need, February 14, 2017, sierraclub.org

Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene, Mary Trachsel, Social Science, 2019, 8, 106.

What DNA from Pet Foxes Teaches Us about Dogs- And Humans, August 7, 2018, National Geographic.

Cows Need Friends to be Happy, Rebecca Giggs, November 2019, Atlantic.

10 Animals With Symbiotic Relationships (Pictures and Facts), Patricia Greene, wildlifeinformer.com

Mutualism: Eight Examples of Species that Work Together to Get Ahead, Emily Osterloff, nhm.ac.uk