Nature Science

AN ANIMAL FRIEND IN NEED IS A BEAUTIFUL FRIEND INDEED

Courtesy of Seaworld Florida. Ostrich and Giraffe.

Wild friendships are beautiful things. Especially unlikely comrades. They are unusual, but there is good reason why some animals value affection over hostility, despite their hard-wired genetics.

Animals form friendships for many of the same reasons we do, which all have to do with some form of mutual benefit. It could be that they help each other survive and thrive, or it could be for companionship -- or even love and affection.

It is even more surprising when natural born enemies become best friends, and when odd species pairings prove to be perfect partnerships.

It turns out there are scientific explanations for these phenomena too. These interspecies relationships can be either “business” relationships, “love” relationships, or both.

Sometimes, these unlikely friendships form when the two animals are living together in captivity -- in a zoo or a shelter, for example, like the giraffe and ostrich at Busch Gardens pictured above.

As with all relationships, there needs to be coordination and communication between the parties. It’s hard enough when you are human and have the gift of speech. But for animals to do this, it is truly astonishing.

Yet somehow, animals manage to sometimes get their messages across -- how they can help each other resist other predators, comfort each other, and make life easier for each other. They can find symbioses.

It gets down to the equation of: what’s better for me, one quick meal or a lifetime friend? An animal friend in need is an animal friend indeed.

Somehow, some animals can adapt to be able to communicate with -- and, even more importantly -- trust other species.

Does a cat raised with dogs know it’s a cat? Is friendship more important than food?

Photographer Torgeir Berge has taken some wonderful photos of his dog, Tinni, making friends with a wild fox, named Sniffer. The pair met in the forest near their home in Norway. Check them out playing in this video.

Photographer Evan Schiller caught the start of a beautiful friendship between a lioness and a baby baboon. The lioness had just killed the baby’s mother.

But then, instead of making an easy snack out of the baby, the lioness gently carried the baby in its mouth to a safe place and tried to nurse it for over 2 hours.

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships, by Catherine Thimmesh, shares some truly amazing and unlikely friendships that have developed between the most surprising pairs of animals -- often between animals that are normally considered to be natural enemies.

These friendships are beautifully captured through astonishing vivid photographs taken in a wide range countries around the world.

Read more about Beautiful Friendships, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including We Are Moved By Beautiful Encounters.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Friendships in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 11.23.2014. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!