Animal Odd Couples

A lion and a coyote, a tortoise and a goose, a goat and a horse, a dog and a deer - cross-species relationships are now being documented in increasing numbers in zoos and sanctuaries around the world. As the stories and field reports multiply, scientists have begun to reconsider what was once conventional wisdom - that humans are the only animals capable of emotions and friendships. One scientist has spent over six years studying relationships between non-related monkeys, hoping to learn whether their social bonds, their "friendships," can provide clues as to how friendship evolved in people. Animal behavior experts Marc Bekoff and Temple Grandin offer their insights on what we can learn from interspecies relationships, and caretakers of unlikely animal couples in sanctuaries and zoos offer their own experiences with long-term bonds between species that seem to defy past assumptions.

Upplagd i sortimentet: 15 januari, 2013