It's widely accepted that many nonhuman animals (animals) are conscious beings who display and feel a wide array of emotions including joy, happiness, pleasure, love, empathy, compassion, and sadness, and profound grief. Among mammals, this isn't at all surprising because all mammals, including humans, share the same structures and neurochemicals in the limbic system that are important in processing and expressing what they're feeling.
Slowly but surely we're hearing about more and more observations of strong emotional attachments that cross species lines. These friendships, unlikely friendships in a good number of cases, show that emotions including joy, love, empathy, compassion, kindness, and grief can readily be shared by improbable friends including predators and prey, such as a cat and a bird, a snake and a hamster, and a lioness and a baby oryx. And, of course, the best examples of emotions being shared between different species are those close and enduring relationships we humans form with the companion animals with whom we share our homes and with those nonhumans with whom we work closely to rehabilitate when they're in need.
The Animal Odd Couple
"Are animals capable of feeling complex emotions? Recent observations of unexpected cross-species relationships in zoos and animal sanctuaries around the world may provide some answers. Endearing interactions between a cheetah and a retriever, a lion and a coyote, a dog and a deer, a goat and a horse, and even a tortoise and a goose offer captivating glimpses of supportive connections in the animal world. Each interspecies pair challenges the conventional wisdom that humans are the only species capable of feeling compassion and forming long-lasting friendships. Animal behavior experts weigh in with their opinions, and animal caretakers share their personal experiences with cross-species relationships in this compelling tale of unlikely animal couples."
Consider, for example, love. In this documentary, we learn: "Love apparently knows no boundaries in the animal kingdom. A lion befriends a coyote. A goat guides a blind horse. A goose romances a tortoise, and so on." The growing number of stories of unlikely animal pairings including enduring animal relationships has generated a good deal of scientific interest about interspecies bonds and animal altruism.
I highly recommend "Animal Odd Couples" because it's based on solid science and the videos of the animals are truly outstanding. I'm sure future research will reveal that close relationships between odd couples, strange bedfellows, are more common than previously thought, that empathy, compassion, and kindness cross species lines, and that "humans have no monopoly on moral behavior."
At first glance, this is an "animal odd couple," however, there is nothing odd about it. CuriOdyssey specializes in taking in non-releasable animals from wildlife rehabilitation centers. These animals are deemed non-releaseable due to the extent of their injuries or because they habituated to humans during their recovery, greatly compromising their chances for survival in the wild. Because of this, CuriOdyssey's Walk-Through Aviary contains random numbers of male and female birds of various species.
Because Jabby and Lefty do not belong to the same genus, their eggs are not fertile. Animals that do belong to the same genus share more genetic material between them, increasing the chances of producing offspring together. Hybrid animals are a result of two parents from the same genus but are different species. A familiar example would be a horse and donkey hybrid- a mule. Offspring from two species, however, are almost always sterile because functioning sex cells in hybrids are rare.
He has worked at the Dorothy Day homeless shelter, mentored inner city youth with 180 Degrees, and assisted seniors at the Maplewood Care Center. His love for animals included volunteering at Caring for Cats in North St. Paul and work at the Animal Humane Society in Woodbury and Coon Rapids.
The variety of burrow cast morphologies in Karoo rocks suggests that these retreats were excavated for different purposes. Several fossil therapsids discovered in curled-up positions [4], [9], [13], [15], [16] were interpreted as animals resting in confined spaces such as burrows. This suggestion was eventually corroborated by the discovery of the Early Triassic cynodont Thrinaxodon entombed in a burrow in a similar posture [4] and interpreted as an indication of seasonal dormancy [17]. An aestivating behaviour in therapsids has also been suggested from analyses of bone microstructure for a few taxa [13].
In order to improve data quality and contrast, a single distance phase retrieval process [19] coupled with a 3D unsharp mask of the reconstructed volume were used. This approach improves significantly the signal to noise ratio and general contrast, without losing resolution, making 3D segmentation and rendering much more efficient than with absorption data or propagation phase contrast in edge detection mode only.
Within the burrow, the Thrinaxodon specimen is positioned on the floor with the Broomistega alongside, but overlying the right side of the Thrinaxodon. It is clear that the burrow was filled by four discrete sedimentary events (Figure 3). The basal infill, on which the specimens are lying, is a relatively thin layer and the disorganised nature of the bedding suggests that it was disrupted, likely by trampling activity of the burrow occupants (Figure 3, region labelled 1). The second unit is comparatively more massive and covers most of the animal remains (Figure 3, region labelled 2). Its irregular surface draping the animals testifies to a high energy and rapid deposition. The third filling event covers the rest of the animals and shows sub-parallel bedding structures (Figure 3, region labelled 3). The fourth, an overlying unit with a basal pebble lag, was deposited subsequent to the inundation that buried the specimens and its fining upward trend with a basal pebble lag reflects waning energy in a final pulse of sediment deposition (Figure 3, region labelled 4).
Sediment encasing the skeletons suggests a high-energy burrow filling episode. The skeletons are exquisitely preserved in anatomical articulation and natural body position (Figure 2), and are not comingled (Figure 1), which indicates that the animals were buried with intact soft tissue, including the skin, and were possibly even alive [8]. Based on its morphology and anatomical characters, it is evident that Broomistega was unable to burrow. Evaluation of Thrinaxodon anatomy suggesting it was an active burrower remains an open question. However, this specimen, together with the other skeletons discovered in a burrow [4], demonstrates that it occupied burrows. As the juvenile Broomestiga was primary aquatic, Thrinaxodon was likely the primary occupant and most likely the excavator of the burrow.
We finally considered that the Broomistega could have been dragged into the burrow by the Thrinaxodon, reflecting food-hoarding behaviour. However, perishable food hoarding in burrows by extant animals is rare, especially in hot environments favouring rapid decomposition [30]. The absence of a clear association of the puncture-like marks on the skull of Broomistega with the canines of the Thrinaxodon, combined with perishable food hoarding being an uncommon behaviour disfavour the prey-predator hypothesis.
Deprivation of food and water in arid environments often leads to some states of torpor in many extant mammals that do not considerably decrease their metabolic rate [37]. The use of a secluded place, such as a burrow, helps the animal to reduce its body temperature to contend with the lack of resources [37]. The unusual instance of cohabitation manifested in specimen BP/1/5558, in addition to the numerous specimens of Thrinaxodon discovered in curled-up positions [4], [9], [13], [15], suggests that this animal had retreated into its burrow for a period of dormancy. However, the absence of histomorphological markers indicative of arrested appositional bone growth, suggests that these periods were relatively short in duration. As torpor is viewed as a plesiomorphic character in mammals [41], it is more likely that metabolic plasticity existed in this mammal forerunner rather than the specialised metabolism of a hibernator. The capacity to escape hazardous climatic conditions in a burrow and to survive deprivation of vital resources certainly contributed to the success of small to medium-sized cynodonts across the PT crisis [10], [42].
The beneficial effects of vitamin D supplementation for several health-related issues, including the prevention of diabetes, are a topic of intense discussion. Data from epidemiological studies suggest a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and higher prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (T1D and T2D). In animal models, vitamin D deficiency predisposes to diabetes whereas vitamin D supplementation prevents disease. Nevertheless, well-designed clinical intervention studies are lacking. We discuss here the evidence for a role of vitamin D in diabetes and propose that vitamin D deficiency should be avoided, especially in all at-risk people. This should be possible by implementing global guidelines and by focusing on daily dietary supplementation with small doses of vitamin D.
Best of all, the Nature camera crews filmed endearing interactions between a cheetah and a dog, a lion and a coyote, a Great Dane and a deer, and even a tortoise and a goose. All these supportive connections from the animal world seem to challenge the conventional wisdom that humans are the only species capable of feeling compassion and forming long-lasting friendships.
Here are a few more examples of unlikely friendships in the animal kingdom from previous Good News Network stories involving a deer and goose pair, and an elephant and orangutan each bonding with a hound. 2ff7e9595c