THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP

Unlik ly e
e
Collected from around the world and documented in full-color
candid photographs—photographs you have to see to believe—
Unlikely Friendships tells one heartwarming tale after another of
animals who, with nothing else in common, bond in the most

Fri ndships
unexpected ways. A cat and a bird. The hippo, Owen, and tortoise,
Mzee. The Indian leopard who slips into a village every night to
sleep with a calf. Written by Jennifer Holland, a senior writer for
National Geographic, each chapter tells the story of a most un-
usual friendship, and offers insights into how, possibly, it came
about—how that young, likely motherless leopard, for instance,
sought maternal comfort with the calf. It is an extraordinary
impulse gift for every animal lover.
SPECIFICATIONS
Paperback with french flaps 47 R e m a r k a b l e S t o r i e s
MARKETING & PUBLICITY: $12.95 U.S./$15.95 Can.
• Author events in New York and Washington, D.C. No. 15913 from the A n i m a l K i n g d o m
ISBN 978-0-7611-5913-1
• National radio satellite tour Full-color photographs
• YouTube advertising throughout; 7" x 8"
• Dedicated landing page with video links 208 pages
Ships: June 2011
• Social media campaign

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

BOOKSELLERS LIBRARIANS AND TEACHERS Ships with

Craig Popelars Michael Rockliff promotional
919-967-0108 ext. 15 212-614-7572 poster!
craigp@workman.com mrockliff@workman.com

MEDIA ORDERING INFORMATION

Selina Meere Contact your Workman sales representative
6-copy counter display
212-614-7505 or Workman Publishing Company
No. 26508
selina@workman.com 212-254-5900 * 800-722-7202, ISBN 978-0-7611-6508-8
or fax 800-521-1832 $77.70 U.S./$95.70 Can.

WORKMAN PUBLISHING
225 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014-4381
www.workman.com
©2011 Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
J E N N I F E R S. H O L L A N D
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J
ennifer S. Holland is a journalist who has spent most of her

career writing for popular science and nature publications.

Currently a senior writer for National Geographic magazine, where

she has worked for ten years, Jennifer specializes in life science and

natural history (reptilian, mammalian, avian, amoebic—you name

it, she’s covered it). Jennifer lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with

her husband, two dogs, and dozens of snakes and geckos. To her

knowledge, and dismay, the dogs have yet to befriend any of the

geckos.
Unlik ly Fri ndships e e
I t isn ’t unusual for human beings to connect

with other animals—consider that well over half of all U.S.

households keep pets. Less common than a human-pet con-
nection, and at first glance more surprising, is a bond between
members of two different nonhuman species. A dog and a donkey.
A cat and a bird. A sheep and an elephant. This book represents
just a small sample of the unexpected animal pairings that peo-
ple have reported around the world. I describe the unions as
friendships, knowing that we can’t truly explain what emotional
strings bind our nonhuman kin, but assuming that there is
some parallel to our experiences. To me, friendship is as simple
as seeking comfort or companionship from another to improve
one’s own life experience. Even if it’s had only briefly, friendship
is a plus. And in all of the cases that follow, the animals involved
are arguably better off—more confident, physically stronger, in
higher spirits—after finding each other than they were before.
Why do unlike creatures get together? Often biologists can
point to an obvious benefit to one or both animals—related to
spotting predators, keeping parasites at bay, staying warm, find-
ing food. Scientists label such relationships with terms like com-
mensalism or mutualism. This book is concerned with cases that
are a little less tidy. Some involve an animal taking a parental
or protective role toward another, probably instinctively. Others
have no obvious explanation. Perhaps the need for a good friend
is not just a human thing after all.

—From the I n t r o d u c t i o n
 {S o u t h A f r i c a , 2008}

zq

The Elephant
and the Sheep
A t just six months of age, themba the elephant

suffered a terrible loss: His mother fell off a cliff while

moving with their herd through the South African nature reserve
where they lived. At such a critical time for mother-son bonding,
veterinarians hoped another female in the herd would adopt the
baby, but none did. So they decided to find a surrogate outside
the elephant family to help Themba.
Staff at the Shamwari Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in East-
ern Cape had been successful keeping a motherless rhinoceros
with a sheep. Hoping for a similar triumph, wildlife managers
moved Themba to the rehabilitation center and borrowed a domes-
tic sheep named Albert from a nearby farm.
 {S o u t h A f r i c a , 2008}

zq

The Elephant
and the Sheep
A t just six months of age, themba the elephant

suffered a terrible loss: His mother fell off a cliff while

moving with their herd through the South African nature reserve
where they lived. At such a critical time for mother-son bonding,
veterinarians hoped another female in the herd would adopt the
baby, but none did. So they decided to find a surrogate outside
the elephant family to help Themba.
Staff at the Shamwari Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in East-
ern Cape had been successful keeping a motherless rhinoceros
with a sheep. Hoping for a similar triumph, wildlife managers
moved Themba to the rehabilitation center and borrowed a domes-
tic sheep named Albert from a nearby farm.


zN Why a sheep? They might not seem like the Once the bond took hold, the elephant and sheep were insepa-
A F R I CA brightest of animals, but in truth their intel- rable. They’d nap in tandem, horse around together, and Themba
NT
ELEPHA
Anim
alia ligence falls just below that of pigs, which are would rest his trunk on Albert’s wooly back as they explored
DOM:
KING h o r d ata
UM: C quite smart. They can recognize individuals
PHYL
: M a mmal
ia their enclosure or went in search of snacks. Though keepers
S
CLAS b o scida
e
o
ORDE
R: P r
p h a ntida
e over the long term, can distinguish among dif- expected Themba to imitate the elder Albert, instead the sheep
l e
LY: E nta
FAMI o d a
GENU
S: Lo
x
a ferent emotions based on facial expressions, became the copycat, even learning to feed on Themba’s favorite
frican
IES: A
SPEC
and will react emotionally to familiar faces leaves—from a thorny acacia plant not typically in a sheep’s diet.
of various species. So bonding with another
kind of animal might not be as unlikely as it
first may seem—especially with elephants, who are unquestion-
ably bright and expressive, and rely heavily on social bonds.

Still, the attempt to pair the two species didn’t start out well.
When first introduced, Themba chased Albert around the water-
ing hole, flapping his ears and lifting his tail to look as large and
threatening as possible. Albert fled, as sheep instinct demands,
and hid for hours. Over three days of wary gestures and tentative
touches the pair finally accepted each other, and the result proved
well worth the stressful beginning.

“I still remember the day Albert took the first leaves

off a tree where Themba was feeding,” says Dr. Johan
Joubert, the center’s wildlife director. “We knew they q
truly bonded when they started to sleep cuddled up D O M E S TI C
SHEEP
together. I must admit we were concerned that Themba
KINGDOM
: Animali
a
would lie down on top of Albert and crush him by PHYLUM:
Chordata
CLASS: M
ammalia
mistake!” ORDER: A
rtiodacty
la
FAMILY: B
ovidae
GENUS: O
vis
SPECIES:
Ovis aries


zN Why a sheep? They might not seem like the Once the bond took hold, the elephant and sheep were insepa-
A F R I CA brightest of animals, but in truth their intel- rable. They’d nap in tandem, horse around together, and Themba
NT
ELEPHA
Anim
alia ligence falls just below that of pigs, which are would rest his trunk on Albert’s wooly back as they explored
DOM:
KING h o r d ata
UM: C quite smart. They can recognize individuals
PHYL
: M a mmal
ia their enclosure or went in search of snacks. Though keepers
S
CLAS b o scida
e
o
ORDE
R: P r
p h a ntida
e over the long term, can distinguish among dif- expected Themba to imitate the elder Albert, instead the sheep
l e
LY: E nta
FAMI o d a
GENU
S: Lo
x
a ferent emotions based on facial expressions, became the copycat, even learning to feed on Themba’s favorite
frican
IES: A
SPEC
and will react emotionally to familiar faces leaves—from a thorny acacia plant not typically in a sheep’s diet.
of various species. So bonding with another
kind of animal might not be as unlikely as it
first may seem—especially with elephants, who are unquestion-
ably bright and expressive, and rely heavily on social bonds.

Still, the attempt to pair the two species didn’t start out well.
When first introduced, Themba chased Albert around the water-
ing hole, flapping his ears and lifting his tail to look as large and
threatening as possible. Albert fled, as sheep instinct demands,
and hid for hours. Over three days of wary gestures and tentative
touches the pair finally accepted each other, and the result proved
well worth the stressful beginning.

“I still remember the day Albert took the first leaves

off a tree where Themba was feeding,” says Dr. Johan
Joubert, the center’s wildlife director. “We knew they q
truly bonded when they started to sleep cuddled up D O M E S TI C
SHEEP
together. I must admit we were concerned that Themba
KINGDOM
: Animali
a
would lie down on top of Albert and crush him by PHYLUM:
Chordata
CLASS: M
ammalia
mistake!” ORDER: A
rtiodacty
la
FAMILY: B
ovidae
GENUS: O
vis
SPECIES:
Ovis aries
 Johan Joubert and his staff
had always planned to reintro-
duce Themba to his family in the
reserve where he was born. But
during preparations for his re-
lease, Themba became ill from a
twisted intestine and veterinar-
ians were unable to save him. He
was just two and a half years into
what might have been a seventy-
year lifespan.
The staff at the wildlife center
were heartbroken, though Albert,
fortunately, was able to forge new
interspecies friendships among
the reserve’s zebra foals and
wildebeest.

{3 2 }
 Johan Joubert and his staff
had always planned to reintro-
duce Themba to his family in the
reserve where he was born. But
during preparations for his re-
lease, Themba became ill from a
twisted intestine and veterinar-
ians were unable to save him. He
was just two and a half years into
what might have been a seventy-
year lifespan.
The staff at the wildlife center
were heartbroken, though Albert,
fortunately, was able to forge new
interspecies friendships among
the reserve’s zebra foals and
wildebeest.

{3 2 }
 {I n d o n e s i a , 2010}

8b
The Macaque
and the Kitten
T here is a sacred forest in the town of ubud , on

the Indonesian island of Bali, where monkeys roam freely

over the stones of a Hindu temple built centuries ago. The pri-
mates are long-tailed macaques, and many local villagers believe
they guard the religious site against evil spirits.
One monkey recently brought its protective instinct to a more sec-
ular task—safeguarding a kitten that had strayed into arm’s reach.
Anne Young was on vacation and visiting the Sacred Mon-
key Forest during the animals’ crossing of paths. “They had been
together a few days, and whenever the park staff tried to capture
the kitten, it would just run back to the monkey,” she says. The
monkey, a young male, would groom his feline friend, hug and
 {I n d o n e s i a , 2010}

8b
The Macaque
and the Kitten
T here is a sacred forest in the town of ubud , on

the Indonesian island of Bali, where monkeys roam freely

over the stones of a Hindu temple built centuries ago. The pri-
mates are long-tailed macaques, and many local villagers believe
they guard the religious site against evil spirits.
One monkey recently brought its protective instinct to a more sec-
ular task—safeguarding a kitten that had strayed into arm’s reach.
Anne Young was on vacation and visiting the Sacred Mon-
key Forest during the animals’ crossing of paths. “They had been
together a few days, and whenever the park staff tried to capture
the kitten, it would just run back to the monkey,” she says. The
monkey, a young male, would groom his feline friend, hug and
 nuzzle it, and even lay his head on
the kitten’s head as if it were a pillow.
If the other monkeys or the photog-
rapher got too close, he would try to
hide his prize—once even using a
big leaf to cover it—or climb higher
or move deeper into the forest, the
cat in his arms.
The kitten, meanwhile, had plenty of opportunities to escape
the monkey’s clutches, “but it made no attempt whatsoever,”
Anne says. It seemed content to be carried around in the bigger
animal’s embrace.
Long-tailed macaques live in a strict social hierarchy in which
males must prove themselves worthy of female attention, and this
troop was no exception. The kitten-petting male was not an “al-

pha male,” or leader, among his own kind, Anne points
out. So he probably wasn’t getting a lot of affection
8 from the other monkeys. And the kitten appeared to
LO NG -TAI LE D be traveling solo as well. “I suspect both of

MACAQU E
the animals craved attention and compan-
Animalia
KINGDOM:
hordata ionship,” she says. Fortunately for both
PHY L U M :
CLASS: Mam
C
malia b
ORDER: Pri
mates
ae
unmated primate and homeless feline, H O U S E CAT
rcopithecin
FAMILY: Ce
GE N U S : M a c a ca among the temple ruins “they found what KINGDOM
: Animali
ularis a
caca fascic PHYLUM:
S PECIES: Ma Chordata
they needed in each other.” CLASS: M
ammalia
ORDER: C
arnivora
FAMILY: F
elidae
GENUS: F
elis
SPECIES:
Felis Dom
esticus
 nuzzle it, and even lay his head on
the kitten’s head as if it were a pillow.
If the other monkeys or the photog-
rapher got too close, he would try to
hide his prize—once even using a
big leaf to cover it—or climb higher
or move deeper into the forest, the
cat in his arms.
The kitten, meanwhile, had plenty of opportunities to escape
the monkey’s clutches, “but it made no attempt whatsoever,”
Anne says. It seemed content to be carried around in the bigger
animal’s embrace.
Long-tailed macaques live in a strict social hierarchy in which
males must prove themselves worthy of female attention, and this
troop was no exception. The kitten-petting male was not an “al-

pha male,” or leader, among his own kind, Anne points
out. So he probably wasn’t getting a lot of affection
8 from the other monkeys. And the kitten appeared to
LO NG -TAI LE D be traveling solo as well. “I suspect both of

MACAQU E
the animals craved attention and compan-
Animalia
KINGDOM:
hordata ionship,” she says. Fortunately for both
PHY L U M :
CLASS: Mam
C
malia b
ORDER: Pri
mates
ae
unmated primate and homeless feline, H O U S E CAT
rcopithecin
FAMILY: Ce
GE N U S : M a c a ca among the temple ruins “they found what KINGDOM
: Animali
ularis a
caca fascic PHYLUM:
S PECIES: Ma Chordata
they needed in each other.” CLASS: M
ammalia
ORDER: C
arnivora
FAMILY: F
elidae
GENUS: F
elis
SPECIES:
Felis Dom
esticus
 Some other stories from inside the book:
The Igu an a The Oran guta n Babi es
The Red Pand as and and the Ho us e Ca t and the Tige r Cub s
the Moth ering Mutt

The Rottie and

The Tort oise and the Wolf Pup The Owl and
the Greyho und
the Hipp o

The Mo nk ey s and
The Sle d Do g and the Ca py ba ra s The Mare
the Po lar Be ar and the Fawn

Discover these and 38 other stories of animal friendships that challenge

everything we think we know about relationships between different species.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J
ennifer S. Holland is a journalist who has spent most of her

career writing for popular science and nature publications.

Currently a senior writer for National Geographic magazine, where

she has worked for ten years, Jennifer specializes in life science and

natural history (reptilian, mammalian, avian, amoebic—you name

it, she’s covered it). Jennifer lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with

her husband, two dogs, and dozens of snakes and geckos. To her

knowledge, and dismay, the dogs have yet to befriend any of the

geckos.
THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP

Unlik ly e
e
Collected from around the world and documented in full-color
candid photographs—photographs you have to see to believe—
Unlikely Friendships tells one heartwarming tale after another of
animals who, with nothing else in common, bond in the most

Fri ndships
unexpected ways. A cat and a bird. The hippo, Owen, and tortoise,
Mzee. The Indian leopard who slips into a village every night to
sleep with a calf. Written by Jennifer Holland, a senior writer for
National Geographic, each chapter tells the story of a most un-
usual friendship, and offers insights into how, possibly, it came
about—how that young, likely motherless leopard, for instance,
sought maternal comfort with the calf. It is an extraordinary
impulse gift for every animal lover.
SPECIFICATIONS
Paperback with french flaps 47 R e m a r k a b l e S t o r i e s
MARKETING & PUBLICITY: $12.95 U.S./$15.95 Can.
• Author events in New York and Washington, D.C. No. 15913 from the A n i m a l K i n g d o m
ISBN 978-0-7611-5913-1
• National radio satellite tour Full-color photographs
• YouTube advertising throughout; 7" x 8"
• Dedicated landing page with video links 208 pages
Ships: June 2011
• Social media campaign

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

BOOKSELLERS LIBRARIANS AND TEACHERS Ships with

Craig Popelars Michael Rockliff promotional
919-967-0108 ext. 15 212-614-7572 poster!
craigp@workman.com mrockliff@workman.com

MEDIA ORDERING INFORMATION

Selina Meere Contact your Workman sales representative
6-copy counter display
212-614-7505 or Workman Publishing Company
No. 26508
selina@workman.com 212-254-5900 * 800-722-7202, ISBN 978-0-7611-6508-8
or fax 800-521-1832 $77.70 U.S./$95.70 Can.

WORKMAN PUBLISHING
225 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014-4381
www.workman.com
©2011 Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
J E N N I F E R S. H O L L A N D