Saturday, January 24, 2009

Unlikely animal friendships


I've been sent a few links in recent weeks giving details of unlikely animal friendships. Some of them seemed so improbable that I spent a bit of time verifying them, to see whether they were genuine. To my surprise, they were: so here are three selected oddball animal relationships.

First, the predators that play with dogs!





It seemed really weird, until I found that there are many other reported instances of similar behavior. Here's one, in a narrated slide show format. Worth watching.

Next, a killer whale that became separated from its pack, and grew up alone in Canada's Nootka Sound. Named Luna by locals, he formed relationships with other local wildlife, including this dog, with whom he seemed to want to play! (If the dog had jumped in, however, I'm not sure how long the play would have lasted . . . )





Sadly, this orca appears to have been killed in 2006 by the propeller of a visiting ship, according to this CBS report.

Finally, there's the story of Tarra and Bella - elephant and dog!





I know a few oddball animal relationship stories from my many years in Africa, but of course they're not on video or properly documented. If I can find some supporting material, I might post some of them in future.

Peter

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

Good point, what IS our excuse, other than being able to talk... sigh...

FarmGirl said...

Those are fantastic! And who cares about documentation, the best stories are always the ones that you can't prove...

I know a few oddball animal stories myself, although whether I'll get them put down to my satisfaction any time soon.... who knows?

Unknown said...

In southern California at least, back in the 80s, there was a problem with coyotes playing with dogs... the coyotes would use the play to lure the dogs away from houses, then eat them.