The World's Most Unlikely Animal Relationships | Animal Odd Couples | Real Wild

we're fascinated by animals that behave in ways we would never expect millions of us watch clips of different species that normally wouldn't come together showing what looks like friendship affection and even love towards each other Kate took one look at her thank you I'll take over now stop it that just melts your heart doesn't it it did but what lies at the heart of these behaviors can science explain why these unusual Partnerships take place I'm Liz bonnin and I'm going on a worldwide journey of Discovery to find out why animals of different species make friends

with each other why a cat would adopt ducklings I was blown away by what I was seeing I just CAU and believe it if an orangutang could really keep a dog as a pet or if two animals of different species could even fall in love so handsome I'm on a mission to find the world's cutest and weirdest animal friends [Music] [Music] this jaguar and Jack Russell are inseparable when staff tried to move the Jaguar to a bigger enclosure of its own as it grew up they were having none of it both cried and whined incessantly

until they were finally reunited and you know this does beg the question how on Earth does this work cats and dogs don't normally get along but here in this Wildlife Park in South Africa bullet the jack russell is best mates with a predatory Jaguar named Jag who could easily have him for dinner but instead bullet and Jag spend as much time as they can together in this enclosure they eat and sleep together and are always playing together so what's going on for a long time we've thought that most animals of different species have evolved to

stick to their own kind and to generally not get along but in recent years the internet has been changing all that videos getting hits in their millions are showing different species interacting in ways that scientists didn't think were possible so how can we explain these relationships and what can they teach us about how the animal kingdom really works to find some answers I'm going to start by meeting a variety of animal odd couples that seem to be the best of friends and I'm beginning my weird and wonderful journey in Atlanta Georgia in the southeast of

America because I've heard about an incredible example of animal friendship between the most unlikely of species they live here in this Refuge with over a thousand other injured orphaned and abandoned animals so this is Belo an American black bear he's 12 years old and he's been at this Wildlife Sanctuary here in Atlanta ever since he was a little cub and all through his life even into adulthood he's been keeping company with a couple of animals well you just wouldn't expect and there's one of them now that's your [Music] friend I have never seen a fully

grown bear and tiger in the same enclosure [Music] before sheer Khan is a Bengal tiger who's also around 12 years old Asian black bears and tigers do share the the same territory in the Far East but when they meet one of the men's are badly injured or killed and so to see these two guys they're around 12 years old showing so much affection for each other is pretty amazing the third member of this unlikely friendship is a lion called Leo the Bear's the boss and then Leo the Lion Falls in second and then shaan's a

little you know he's a little Wild Child and when they're sleeping in the clubhouse all three of them they Pile in together they just know each other and they love each other jamama hedof is the founder of this sanctuary and she's looked after the three of them since they were just a couple of months old kept illegally as pets they were confiscated by the authorities and brought to her wildlife sanctuary [Music] had been in a dark basement and they were all kept together and then the tiger and the Lion's noses were busted up and they're

scarred to this day what absolutely fascinates me is the fact that these are grown predators in their own right who are displaying so much affection for each other what do you think is going on here well they're truly a family they've never been separated we tried twice when they first came in and they wouldn't eat they cried all day so for about 8 or nine hours I said oh well they're just babies let's put them back together would you describe these three as friends very close friends I wish I had a friend as close as

they are it's difficult not to to think that they are friends that they care for each other when you see how they behave with each other correct except for that oh yeah they you know they they get to going is this play going on oh yeah this is play Shan is pushing blue and blue is ready to go to sleep and Shan does this all the time he does it to Leo too I'm loving Shan's Personality yeah I mean Shan is the one that look at that look at that St and he'll have to he'll

have to back down it's nice to have seen that kind of behavior too yes yes for some reason it just makes me happy that they have those kind of oh yes they have they have to because they're they're not sedated they're real that is who they are I'm Amazed by what I've seen so to get a scientific view I've asked Clive win a psychology Professor who studies animal behavior to have a look at this unlikely animal friendship what would do you make of this situation CL it's beautiful I really love it I think it's marvelous

to see animals that started out such difficult early lives being given such a beautiful home being given true Sanctuary I think it's a wonderful thing to see and what do you think about the nature of their relationship you know how they behave together and dare I say how they might feel about each other yeah well so I've been watching them play for a little while now watching them interact with each other and I've been thinking about well what's the best way to capture what I see there are elements of rivalry there is a pecking order

here and I saw the tiger testing the bear a little bit and you get that with brothers so I I would say it's a Brotherhood do you think one of the big factors involved in this relationship especially in the early years was a certain type of bond to relieve the stress they were experiencing yeah absolutely absolutely there's good research I mean obviously not on lions tigers and bears but animals at all stages of life including ourselves get buffering of stress it reduces your stress to have a a companion with you a friendly companion with you

and one feels it oneself right in your daily life if you have to go and do something stressful it's much nicer if you can bring a buddy along so it seems that the Friendship these three found in each other helped them through the tough early days and over time it developed into a wonderfully close lifelong Bond the need to find a friend no matter who they are is clearly a very strong instinct [Music] you can see it in animals that have been brought together by captivity particularly if they're very young just like this baby chimpanzee

who's found a companion in a pumac cub and there's one factor that always seems to be involved in their everyday lives [Music] play so why is that is play a crucial part of what creates these cross species bonds to find out I've traveled to South Africa just outside the coastal town of Port Elizabeth to meet a couple of animal friends who just want to play all the time this is Hugo the bulldog and his friend eigor the lion cub look at that hand raised in this safari park they formed a very close Bond and their

favorite activity is a bit of rough and [Music] tumble o you got his classic you are a happy dog to help me understand how play Works between different species I talk to animal behavior expert Dr Linda sharp from the University of stellos here in South Africa play signals are fairly Universal in that they tend to be all um things like rolling on your back it's making yourself vulnerable they're the very reversed of aggression so um so even if it's two completely different species they'll be able to read each other's body language yeah if someone is

rolling on their back wiggling kind of thinking they're not about to attack you I mean you can see that and and so all these species tend to have the play signals that initiate play tend to be the the absolute reverse of how they would behave when they're being aggressive [Music] this might help to explain an example of play between two very different species that became an internet sensation with over 11 million hits in Canada polar bears one of the most fearsome Predators on earth have been witnessed playing together with huskys in the most surprisingly affectionate

[Applause] way the Huskies are tethered at their home base in Manitoba and these wild polar bears are waiting for the winter ice to return to this stretch of Coastline the huskys should by all accounts be an easy snack but the polar bears are clearly not hungry which frees them up to [Music] play but that doesn't really explain why they would choose to do this so why does play seem so vital important even when it's with a different species the unusual thing about play is that the behaviors that are incorporated into play are all flight and

fight behaviors you know there all excitement they things that really hype you up and so one theory is that play you're activating you're doing this exciting activity that's just a little bit dangerous you know just a little bit you know you're pretending there's a predator after you or you're you know you're you're being overcome by this other Manimal who is fighting you and so there's this little Fusion of of excitement and stress it's these little peaks of mild stress in safe circumstances that Linda believes help prepare animals for the challenges of life and playing with

a different species adds to The Thrill of the unknown when a young animal is stressed it Alters its sensitivity to stress so next time It suffers a trauma it doesn't get as stressed it doesn't respond so bely it recovers quicker it's not traumatized as much especially if it's a different species that normally you'd run from but you're playing with you might get get an added extra bit of stress that you then get sort of habituated to and that helps you in future life so Linda believes that these polar bears and huskys are getting more of

a thrill from playing together than they might do playing with their own species and this potentially helps their bodies to cope with more Danger situations stress in small doses is clearly beneficial but too much can be dangerous I've traveled across South Africa to a secret location to meet an animal that's so reliant on its friends it will die without them this is a cross species friendship that's not only saving lives it's helping to save an entire species rhinos in Africa are in crisis they're being slaughtered at an alarming rate for their horns because they're prized

by the Asian medicine trade despite the fact that they have absolutely no medicinal value whatsoever now in South Africa last year alone 688 rhinos were killed and that's tragic enough in itself but it gets worse because it's led to an unprecedented number of orphaned traumatized calves like these two now if they're very very lucky they get to come to a place like this heavily guarded it's a relative Safe Haven where rhinos are brought to help reduce the risk of poaching but they've also discovered that cross species Rel ships can help save the Rhino orphans they

receive this is all because young rhinos are surprisingly [Music] Fragile the closest Rhino relationship is the one between a calf and its mother it's totally dependent on her for up to two years so an orphan calf needs a lot of care not only that but they just don't do well if left alone Dr Jana pretorius is a specialist Wildlife fet who looks after the little ones hanana how old are these cows um Ella is about 15 months and months Benjamin is about 7 months and are they both orphaned from poaching yes they are unfortunately so

you pair them together and this is everything they need to have a a good chance of survival and then ultimately for re-release into the wild right preferably when they are orphaned they need to have a companion cuz the stress of being alone will kill them large doses of the stress hormone cortisol can be a serious problem for rhinos the gland that produces cortisol produces so much cortisol it can't produce anymore so the body can't cope with stress anymore together with the stomach ulcers then they normally do end up dying so if the Rhino calf can't

be paired with a another orphan calf then is it best for a human to take care of it or is that a bad idea like what what can you do it is in a way a bad idea because humans can't stay with them all the time and the moment for example human has to go away or is sick and you have to use or somebody else needs to look after him just that stress of somebody else being there is already quite bad whereas with animals it's slightly different you can always have the animal with them

or maybe more than one when you talk about them with other animals what animals do you put them with and why the best would be something like a sheep or a fold because they also graze and you want the rers to learn to graze from a young [Music] age if they with humans and for example dogs they end up not wanting to graze and we have seen that where they're actually will eat dog food but won't eat grass so you put them with a sheep and how close does this Bond become and what is it

about that bond that makes these animals de-stress and give them a better chance of survival it's purely the companionship of not being alone when they're alone they uncertain they can't see well they're very insecure animals the the calves you wouldn't think of her Rhino as being timid but no especially the White Rhino they're very timid I find Rhino bums amazing they're just so fat and gorgeous with a little dinky tail they're amazing aren't they with the careful introduction of a close companion precious Rhino lives are being saved but could such a deep bond ever develop

between different species without our encouragement I've traveled to the West Coast of Canada just outside the town of Cor on Vancouver Island because I've heard about the most endearing relationship between two different species that came about purely of their own choice many companionships between different species develop because of captivity circumstances essentially bringing animals together who normally wouldn't keep each other company but here on this tiny little corner of Vancouver Island two animals have been hanging out together for years and they're both free to come and go as they [Music] please Pippen is a wild Blacktail

deer who's formed an incredibly close bond with Kate the Great Dane that lives in this house Pippen leads a wild existence coming and going as she pleases so I've been told the only way she might approach the house while I'm around is if I hide inside [Music] 5 years ago Kate's owner Isabelle springett discovered Pippen in the woods when she was just a tiny newborn form she left her there hoping her mother would come back and find her but it didn't quite work out that way the next day I started hearing the crying and that

went on for 3 days so that was it I thought this is crazy I'm taking her in and I I the only reason I put her on the dog's bed is because it was the only spot to put her yeah and Kate took took long one look at her and that was it it was thank you I'll take over now you know stop it that just melts your heart doesn't this it did yeah this is a film Isabelle took of those early days together there is this maternal Behavior going on with definitely yeah she never

had puppies when it comes to little things she's maternal but did Kate ever suckle no she had nothing to suckle with but she would try really oh boy did she try and try to suckle Kate would stand there and she'd be Bunting and Bunting and bu and Pate was so patient she never told her off really no no and we'd be getting the bottle ready and she would be Bunting and sucking on nothing you know poor K used to feel poor was like it's okay I'm just going to take it she' just hump her back

and stand there and so at what point did Pippen begin to sort of get back to the Wi would you say 2 weeks old yeah two weeks old two weeks old yeah at two weeks she insisted on sleeping in the woods on her own at night and we thought well if something eats her that's just the way it's going to go we can't interfere would Kate ever follow her into the woods at night yeah Kate would follow her sometimes she'd watch her go like [Music] she's [Music] gone but then she never left Kate did she

I mean she didn't disappear forever no no she'd come back every day every day every single day every single day [Music] so how long did this maternal Behavior carry on probably till pit was about 6 months old and then it start of turned into a friendship playtime buddy thing uh the older pit got the more they would play like friends it's nothing like I've ever seen before it was it's not like a dog and a dog playing it wasn't like a deer and a deer playing [Music] I Kate toned down the aggression a little bit

with the play it wasn't you know she would be more aggressive playing with another dog but with Pippen she was more careful and Pippen seemed to be a little more rough than I've seen a deer be so it was two different species compromising they would smack into each other and run and leap and do their neck Twirls and lick and oh really funny to watch how old are these two now how long have they known each other uh 5 years yeah and I think Pip's had one two three four seven fawns now Pippen spends the

majority of her time with the wild herd but she returns to the area surrounding the house each year to give birth to her forms you know the the beginning of their relationship was a maternal nurturing sort of relationship now it's like old friends and now it's like all friends what makes you think that the way they greet each other they don't greet each other like hey you know they greet each other like you would a really good old friend that you see quite often and you just how you doing and and just hang out you

don't even have to talk do they play still or how do they H out they don't play they they're too mature for that now Pips a mom she doesn't play but no all they do now is they'll walk up maybe do a little nuzzle Kate will lick loves to L Kate um and they they'll just hang for a few minutes and then they'll flop down in the shade together and just hang and how long will Pippen stay with Kate at any one time she can be here for 3 or 4 hours uh sometimes just she'll

come into right into here and sleep on one of the dog beds with her sometimes you even if we were gone for 5 years and came back they would greet each other as old friends and it would be the same yeah this is a lifelong Bond formed from a maternal Instinct that developed and was cemented by years of playing and spending time together the relationship between Kate and Pippen is remarkable two animals seeking each other out to spend time together without the constraints that are often made by man and to me that makes this animal

friendship far more compelling than in captive situ situations so far I've met many different animal friends that have found each other through their unusual circumstances be they in captivity or in the wild and it's clear how important play and close interactions can be for maintaining those bonds and even for keeping an animal alive but hearing how Kate looked after Pippen when she was a tiny form introduces another important reason for Animals of different species to come together the mothering Instinct on the next step of my journey I'm going to investigate stories of misplaced mothering that

defy belief incidents of predators ignoring their hunting instincts and instead caring for young animals that should be their prey but first i'm going to the south of the USA to Mountain Home Arkansas and a wildlife refuge that's home to a remarkable superum this Refuge takes on many abandoned animals in need and it's run by a devoted carer named [Music] Janice but it's her Cy Bara she cake who's the star of the show she may be the world's largest species of rodent but she's also an excellent foster mom to a litter of puppies so how did

this scenario arise Janice I mean this kahara is surrounded by I don't know how many puppies I've lost count yes that's just one day I had a litter of Orphan puppies that uh were ready to move out of the house and this was the most secure pen for a little puppy and uh I knew she was social with other animals and she took right to it and she's had every litter since and uh so how many litters has she had well this year alone she's on number four and and there's another one coming up soon

so so you get unfortunately a lot of puppies given to you from abandoned litters I rescue a lot of pregnant mamas mamas that just have given birth that are in Dire Straits and nowhere to go and uh it's one of the Specialties I do with special needs animals it's an unfortunate situation but when you say that the capibara mother is these pups what do you mean uh she sleeps with them she she eats with them she'll she'll uh they they'll play with her they'll groom her and she seems to enjoy it I think she just

has kind of that aura around her that that makes them feel safe and secure cheesecake has never had her own young but being a capara she knows exactly what to do with this lot in the wild capibara help to look after each others young sharing the parenting duties and what she's demonstrating is just how powerful that mothering instinct is so perhaps cheesecake here in this captive situation has become such an excellent Foster mother because her Natural Instincts to take care of little ones have kicked in and I'm taking that one home you know that don't

you yeah you can have that one good stuff the mothering Instinct may come easily to plant eating Supermom like the capibara but can it explain why a predator would choose to mother what would normally be its prey in Ireland just outside the town of Clara County offy lives a young couple with the most remarkable story to tell Ronan and Emma Al own a small farm that they run alongside their day [Music] jobs they have a lovely collection of animals but wanted some ducks to complete the picture so they got in some fertilized eggs on the

day they hatched Ronan went to check on them but couldn't find the ducklings in The Barn within seconds of that a cat jumped down from a pigeon hall within the shed over there and H I kind of put one and one together and I just presumed that the the cat had swallowed up the ducklings at this stage they were missing for about 6 hours so Ronin thought there was no hope at all after searching around the farm they eventually found the ducklings but unfortunately the cat Dela had got there first I ended up catching the

cat with a duck in her mouth at this stage and um it really looked Ronin was like she's going to kill the duck I was thinking oh no we're only after getting them back and now she's going to eat them right in front of us then Emma noticed something unusual I was like Ronan she's not actually forcefully holding this trck that's when the amazing thing happened we put the the cat down H put the ducklings down and then all of a sudden the tree little ducklings waddled straight underneath the cat the cat lay down in

her side put her paw over one of the ducklings and was kind of nursing the duckling in towards us so we were I mean just absolutely Blown Away with this cuz normally cats would eat little small birds but it was AB it was just it was awesome it was just incredible to see it she was um very content at this stage she was purring and she was really loving to work the duckings when I was petting her down um I noticed that she actually had given birth to three kittens only within an hour or so

beforehand it was a very lucky coincidence for the ducklings that the Cat found them just after giving birth herself for a narrow window of a couple of hours mothering hormones will have been coursing through her body causing her to love and nurture any small warm furry creature she found next to her I have no doubt whatsoever that the cat was thinking dinner if she had have seen them either maybe a couple of hours before or a couple of hours after I have no doubt that she would have put the napkin around her neck knife and

fork salt and pepper the whole lot but it was when they came to move the unusual family into a safer spot that they got an even greater surprise as soon as we lifted up the cat H that's when we were totally amazed cu the ducklings were actually latched on on to the to the cat's nipple so they were hanging from her yeah it was very very bizarre when we seen them breastfeeding we just thought oh my God there's something very very strange happening here and something very strange and also something very unique you know duck

mums don't produce milk and ducklings are born ready to find their own food and water from their surroundings so to see them suckling a cat is extraordinary experts can only guess that their natural foraging Instinct caused them to come upon the milk as an unexpected food source and their desire for warmth and comfort kept them close to their Foster [Music] mother Ronin was Keen to separate the Ducks fearful the cat's predatory instincts might kick back in but Emma being a midwife recognized something that she regularly Sees at work there was just so much love there

you know and like I see it every day in the labor Ward they just want to hold them baby so tight and close it's a moment that just lasts forever and I could see that happening with the cat and and the Ducks it just took me a while to convince Ron and guess say R they're just so in love they're just they love each other like you can't break this Bond it's amazing before long the ducklings started to outgrow the kittens and gain their independence something the cat wasn't so happy with these ducks her yellow

kittens were a lot more active and she found it hard to control them she was trying to bring them back underneath her and say now be good like your brothers and [Music] sisters several weeks later the kittens are still small and the Ducks although independent still have an attachment to their surrogate [Music] mom so it would seem that this rare Coincidence of a cat giving birth just as the ducklings were making their first steps into the world resulted in this remarkable situation filled with an instinct to Mother small furry creatures the cat ignored any natural

urge to eat the ducklings and took them on as her own [Music] now it could be argued that all of this only happened because it was a domestic situation with animals that were unusually close to each other but there are other examples that suggest the mothering instinct is so strong this can even happen in the wild a few years ago the most surprising example of misplaced mothering took place in Kenya the story of this less and orx has an unhappy ending but not for the reason you might think a newborn orx surely just minutes from

being this Lion's next meal but to the complete amazement of the Rangers who were monitoring the situation the Lioness didn't try to eat it instead she cared for it as if it were her own young just like the cat with her ducklings a strong instinct to protect and nurt was overriding the predatory instinct to kill it many theories were put forward as to why she was behaving in this way and the consensus was that she was a young lioness who'd gone through some kind of traumatic experience involving being separated from her pride and as a

result her mental state had led her to want to nurture this calf in some way but unfortunately the relationship came to a sudden end when the lioness took her eye off the calf for just a few moments a male lion pounced and killed [Music] it Witnesses described her behavior as exactly that of a lioness who had lost her Cubs heartbreaking to [Music] watch everyone thought that was the end of the story but the Lioness went on to adopt not one but five more orx calves now none of the relationships lasted as long as the first

one but this continuing fixation points to a traumatized animal desperate to nurture even if the young in question isn't her own species the Lioness was always going to struggle to keep the calves alive especially as she wasn't able to feed them but there is an example of cross species mothering I've read about that caused a real stir in the scientific Community because not only was it in the wild but it was longlasting I've traveled to sa Paulo in Brazil to find out what [Music] happened hey over here hello there [Music] these little fellas are called

maret they're one of the world's smallest monkeys I mean this is it they get this big when they're fully grown is it even conceivable to think that one of these could be adopted by a completely different species out in the wild they are so absurdly cute I mean what annal wouldn't want to adopt [Music] them and one group of s scientists discovered exactly that it occurred in a Forest Reserve in the heart of Brazil between a baby maret and a group of capucin [Music] monkeys I meet up with Professor Patricia isar one of the scientists

who witnessed this rare event the only long-term cross species mothering that's ever been documented in the wild when the maros sets they encounter the Capuchin usually they go away they are afraid of the capuchins yeah they hunt for small mammals small rodents and marsupio and even small primates yeah so they've been known to eat a little maret or two yeah okay which makes this entire episode which you were privy to even more unusual yes suddenly one day the female appeared with a very very very tiny marmoset probably days old she was carrying the marmoset as

as if she she was carrying her own baby this in itself was extremely unusual but what happened next almost certainly saved the maret's life the capucin allowed the baby maret to breastfeed she was here with her mouth and the the Capuchin spple we couldn't tell for sure that she was circling but she wasn't that positioned several times a day as a baby Capuchin as she would do with a marmaset mother and she survived what did you think when you first saw that that for us was really really amazing that's unheard of it's completely unique this

case is completely unique yes yes over the coming months the marma set became very much part of the group but there were some differences in the way she was treated how does it manage to integrate into a group that's essentially very different in its behavior and its ecology everything perfectly did it work yes in fact the dominant male sometimes we saw that he was treating her more or less like we treat our pets so is this possible can animals other than humans keep pets Patricia has some footage that sheds more light on the relationship she

just looks like one of the Pebbles they used to the nuts she's that small MH I'm I'm surprised they didn't squash her by accident I mean she's she she's so tiny cracking a nut is she going to go in for some yes and he's is he going to allow her yes see see the proximity she's he's fine with her why do you think he's so relaxed because I think she's so tiny tiny tiny he he doesn't see her as a competition he's watched he's watched her take some of the nuts that's okay it's just it's

adorable to watch it in action isn't it and he let her you know he's not stupid he wouldn't let her do it if he didn't want her to so is she like his little toy she's so cute he just can't he can't help but just let her get away with murder compared to the other capin you know a wild animal keeping another species as a pet is unheard of and would be a hugely significant Discovery great tool use as well by the by these are very clever monkeys there no question tool use was once considered

a uniquely human activity so could petke keeping be another behavior that we share with other animals we'll never know in this case as sadly the maret disappeared after 14 months maybe a predator got her or perhaps she joined another group of marmosets [Music] but it does make me wonder if there are any other examples of animals that might keep pets and if this could be another reason for different species to hang out with each other I've tracked down another unusual friendship from a clip I've seen on the internet it might just be an example of

pet keeping in animals and one that I can visit for [Music] myself the animals in question live on the east coast of the US near the tourist Resort of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina to track them down I've headed away from the crowds to a quiet suburb on the banks of an inland river system [Music] here an animal trainer named doc antel runs a wildlife safari park with an exotic collection of animals that includes a hound named Rosco and an orangutang named haniman that appears to be treating the dog like a pet Doc is currently

training hanaman to take Rosco for a walk but hanaman seems to be taking it a step further he's just kind of holds on to you for security you're the you're the tree at the moment I can be a tree how long has honon and Rosco they've known each other they've known each other for the last seven years now and how did it all begin cuz it is a bit of an Odd Couple isn't it they are an Odd Couple they met each other by time that they spend down on the river doc often takes his

elephant and some of the orangutangs down to the River to cool off and have some fun in the water but on one occasion back in 2006 they came across a stray hound dog on their route one of the IRS suria jumped down and started playing with the hound and they instantly hit it off before long all the orangs were playing and the dog had a new group of friends they then grab each other and play and pet and start being kids goofing around on the water and it just uh engaged them him and they thought

that he was a fabulous guy at the end of the day doc headed back hoping the Stray Dog would find its own way home but the Hound who they later named Rosco had other ideas the dog had made his way in to the secur Gated area and he was there with them and they have a constant supply of food there and water they put out the water for him and they also started taking monkey biscuits oh no he likes my bra just going to look at they they started taking monkey biscuits and handing him monkey

biscuits and the next they were like we want to hang out with Rosco and and Rosco was in that state of really hunger and he ate everything they would give him until he was looked like he'd swallowed a basketball dogs have evolved to be excellent pets and for the orangs to be feeding and caring for Rosco suggests they may have been treating him like one but can that really be the case if so that is extraordinary now we still think to this day I think that humans are the only animals that keep pets but you

know these arut tangs are very closely related to us they're great apes as well do you think it's even possible they think of Rosco as a pet I think that it is like a boy and his dog says I've got my pet dog we'll go out we'll play fetch we have an incredible time together I love my dog now I'm drifting off I'm with my parents it's time for dinner I'm going to go play baseball and the dog becomes very secondary I think it's more like that they love him at the moment I don't think

they Pine away for him or wonder where he is or miss him um like you might see adult humans doing to a dog where they become really emotionally [Music] attached petke keeping can be defined as looking after an animal of another species with a level of care and affection primarily for reasons of pleasure and a very significant part of that care is of course feeding them who's is this what's that do you want that yes you want it you want another one you want to give it to Rosco no does he want it gosh look

at that he wants it you know he wants it yeah you knew see he just had he wanted to do it that way though today hanaman hangs out with Rosco whenever he can and they seem to have a real level of affection for each other they even go swimming together hanaman is only one of two Apes in the whole world that can swim like this now both hanaman and Rosco are obviously trained so I wonder how much that affects what I'm seeing to get a scientific perspective on their relationship I brought along Professor Hal Herzog

an animal behaviorist who's been investigating petke keeping in humans and other animals for many years amazing see Eyes Wide Open couple of bubbles out of the mouth happily swimming in the pool I've never seen that of you never rang a t swimming pool how what do you make of this relationship you you've watched the orang and then the dog what do you make well there's a couple of relationships going on the relationship with with the arangan and the dog is is absolutely stunning and it's very clear that they had a deep relationship the thing that

impressed me the most was food sharing uhuh was the rang Tang being perfectly happy taking orangutang Chow you know not dog food it was monkey Chow it was monkey Chow for sure and giving it to rasa this quite stunning so what do you think that means that a great ape would share food with a completely different species what do you think is going on it in its head I think to some extent it means that uh the the great ape is recognizing the existence of the dog as a in a way a like-minded creature it's

treating it like a like-minded creature just the way we would a dog or a cat in our lives do you think we can call this peping I would Ros rco think so you say yes I roson in my old age what do you think I I I think I think the relationship that those guys have would fall into my definition of pet keeping really yes you to say that is a big deal it is a big deal but the thing that's interesting for me is that these relationships don't seem to exist outside human agency and

maybe the biggest part of the human agency is being having a full stomach Hal believes that in the wild animals are too busy finding food and avoiding predators to have the time to devote to another animal in the way we might look after a pet I argue that humans are the only animals that keep pets yes although you do see the rudiments of the motivation in other animals and to me what what the orangutang is doing is is exemplifying that that the rudiments of the urge to keep pets are right here in South Carolina this

is the perfect storm here you've got a human being doc who's understands animals at a very very deep level you've got this ideal situation where there's plenty of food and what this shows is that great apes and probably a lot of other animals are capable of deeply loving members of another species but yet they don't seem to do it in the real world as far as I know with one exception it was a case in Brazil where a group of uh primatologists discovered a troop of capuchin monkeys and they adopted a two-month-old Marat I know

the case mared it yeah it's absolutely fascinating and and so what to to me this does have the elements that you see in in human petke keeping is that the relationship is one of fondness uh they're not getting anything out of it they were feeding the creature they liked it that much and protecting it but the other thing is it was longlasting to me it's the closest thing to what I would call human pet King but the thing is it's it's one case of the of the millions of hours that primatologists have been you know

spent with their glasses you know and you know looking at trees and it's the only case the fact that the potential for pet keeping exists in animals other than ourselves is revolutionary but it's also Al forcing scientists like Halal to rethink what they know about animal minds and that's what's been so fascinating about the journey I've been on by looking at some of the most extreme unusual and surprising animal friendships we can gain a better understanding of the powerful instincts and needs that motivate all animals drives that are so strong they can sometimes cross the

species divide [Music] but there is one last pairing that truly challenges what science knows about animal relationships and that's because it involves a question of animal attraction and possibly even [Music] love and to witness this Odd Couple I'm visiting a safari park in South Africa not far from ptor to meet audu a species of antelope named Charles he's a fine specimen Charles is a male kudu and he belongs to a wild herd here in this Reserve in South Africa now in a kuduo herd only the dominant male breeds at any one time and the rest

of the males disperse into Bachelor herds or they become solar Tre Kudos until they get the chance to usurp the alpha male and grab the throne and Charles is one of these solitary males for now at least he's by the fence however this hasn't curbed Charles's desire to find a mate and in a neighboring Reserve lives a female he's taken a fancy to when Charles was almost a year old he began keeping company with a female he probably shouldn't be seeking out in the first place and the only way he could reach her was by

jumping this fence ah there he is now the fact that these animals can jump a fence this high without taking a running jump is pretty impressive it also does show quite a bit of commitment for his lady love and he's definitely on a mission [Music] now ever since he's followed her around he's been hanging out with her and the Rangers have called this female Camila now just last week for the first time ever Charles tried to mate with Camila and it wasn't successful to say the least because Camila happens to be a giraffe [Music] I've

heard that Charles has jumped the fence into the reserve so if I'm lucky I'll get to see them together there he is there's Charles and he is coming down the hill to Camilla go he's so handsome I can see what Kima might be attracted to him [Music] when they meet they do seem to prefer spending time with each other rather than the other animals in the area [Music] and it certainly looks like Charles and Camila are more than just good [Music] friends Charles and Camila started hanging out when they were juvenil so that does point

to a relationship based on attachment hormones companionship but then it did turn into something a lot more Primal now in the wild some animals have been known to be attracted to females from another species that resemble a fatter healthier more fun version of their own species but when you look at this kudu and this giraffe it's kind of pushing that theory to the extremes isn't it so is this a rare anomaly or is it just that we haven't been able to understand this kind of behavior yet either way I love this story because it just

goes to show how much we still need to learn about the animal kingdom [Music] she's following him guys she's actually following him a very nice end to the story [Music] h [Music]