Unlike most housecats, tigers like water. So do bears. That means Shere Khan and Baloo can share another activity: getting wet. They’ve had a series of tubs to splash in over the years, and when their habitat is next renovated, they’ll have access to a nearby creek.
Though it was originally a series of unfortunate circumstances that brought them together in Georgia, U.S.A., the lion, tiger, and bear born continents apart have settled in as a family, unaware of their disparate genetics and far-flung origins. “This is their forever home now,” says Jama, “and we hope they’ll have a long and healthy life together.”
{KENYA, 2002}
The Lioness and the Baby Oryx
EAST AFRICAN ORYX
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
FAMILY: Bovidae
GENUS: Oryx
SPECIES: Oryx beisa
In the Samburu National Reserve of Kenya, the East African bush unfolds in thick scrubland and grassy hills, with muddy rivers curling like ribbons through the plains. It is a land of hippos and elephants, of zebra and giraffe, where big cats and squawking monkeys drink from the same ephemeral watering holes and where nomadic herders bring cattle and goats to gnaw grasses from the dry earth. Here Nature veered from her customary course, and a legendary animal tale was born.
It was almost biblical: a lion and a baby antelope lying down together in peace. Local people said it was a message from God. They named the lion Kamunyak, meaning “blessed one.” They came to the bush to bear witness to the strange pairing, and hoped the wonderment would last.
Saba Douglas-Hamilton, a social anthropologist and conservationist for Save the Elephants, followed the animals for more than two weeks as their relationship grew. She watched as a normally fierce predator protected its prey. And she witnessed how it all ended.
The antelope was an oryx just finding its legs. The cat was a young lioness still pink-nosed with youth—too young to have given birth and lost cubs, but old enough to know her prey and to hunt and kill it. For some reason, this young lion, having become separated from her pride, adopted the oryx “as if it were her cub,” says Saba. The two walked the land side by side and slept together, one an extension of the other.
For a time, the lioness seemed conflicted by two instincts—maternal and predatory. But her mothering won out, and she kept the oryx close at all times, licking it gently and treating it as her own young. And the oryx, apparently having not fully imprinted on its own kind and not aware that this was a predator at its side, wasn’t fearful, and even tried to suckle from the big cat.
But a growing antelope needs rich, buttery antelope milk in its first few months, which no lion can provide. So the oryx limped toward starvation. The lion refused to leave the oryx long enough to hunt for herself. So she, too, was going hungry, becoming more lethargic with each passing day. As Saba spent time observing the pair, she sought explanations from lion experts around the world. But all were puzzled; no such pairing was known in the wild before. Though young lions will sometimes “play” with a captured animal for a time before eating it, this didn’t seem a game. “Kamunyak and the calf are a living paradox…. Their intimacy defies the laws of nature,” Saba said. And both would likely die as a result of it.
Locals wanted to help the animals, to try to feed them, to preserve the marvelous duo. An attempt to give meat to the lioness failed; she ignored the offering and went back to sleep. But the relationship would soon end. One hot day, with Kamunyak weak and resting in the grass, the oryx strayed out of sight, and a male lion snatched it up and carried it away. Kamunyak sprang up and followed but was helpless to assist. She sniffed the blood of “her baby” in the grass. She crouched down and watched the male devour it.
The next day, as if snapped out of her strange reverie, the lioness finally hunted again, eating her fill on a warthog and regaining her strength. But she didn’t return to the normal life of a lion. Observers say in the coming months, Kamunyak adopted baby oryxes five more times—all for brief periods—before she herself disappeared from the area, adding to her mystery.
What lay behind this extraordinary scenario? Saba suggests the lion lost her pride at a critical time in her development. “Her trauma probably fueled her quirky obsession.” Whatever stimulated the big cat’s behavior, Kamunyak remains forever an enigma to behavioral scientists and a beautiful curiosity to the rest of us.
SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE
Situated alongside the Ewaso Nyiro River in Kenya, this wildlife reserve boasts an abundance of rare species, such as the Grevy’s zebra, Somali ostrich, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk, and the East African oryx (the kind of oryx adopted by the lioness in this story).
{CHINA, 2007}
The Macaque and the Dove
RHESUS MACAQUE
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Primates
FAMILY: Cercopithecinae
GENUS: Macaca
SPECIES: Macaca mulatta
WHITE RINGNECK DOVE
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Aves
ORDER: Columbiformes
FAMILY: Columbidae
GENUS: Streptopelia
SPECIES: Streptopelia risoria
Off the southern coast of Chine, on an island nestled in the Pearl River estuary of Guangdong Province, the rhesus monkey is king. Several hundred rhesus macaques, as they’re also known, are legally protected, along with pangolins and pythons, in the Neilingding Island–Futian National Nature Reserve, a 2,000-acre wildlife haven lush with mangrove forest. It was there that one of those monkeys made an unexpected feathered friend.
According to Luo Hang, who heads the animal protection station on the mountainous isle, one day in September 2007, a white dove landed on the ground near the station, and lingered. It seemed to have lost its mate. White doves are often seen as symbols of peace and long life, and Luo and his staff welcomed the animal into their midst. They adopted the bird, which they thought was about three years old, feeding it corn kernels and keeping it in an iron cage at the station. The bird had a metal band around its leg, so Luo assumed it was part of a bird migration study and should be released at the change of seasons.
While patroling the island—which is famous not only for its nature park but for having greeted the first known European-flagged boat to China in 1513—one of the reserve staff came across a baby macaque. It was alone, distressed, and very weak. Not more than three months old, it was far too young to survive on its own in the forest and extremely vulnerable to pythons and other predators. The reserve staff took the little animal, wide-eyed and clingy, back to the station, where it quickly met and hit it off with the feathered visitor already in residence.
For two months, the macaque and the dove shared a space and delighted the staff and visitors. They snacked on corn. The monkey turned pieces over in his little hands as he nibbled; the bird pecked on fallen bits behind him. The monkey chattered; the dove cooed. And at night they slept in the cage together, each the other’s pillow and blanket. Luo Hang says, “The monkey was sometimes naughty and seemed to make fun of the dove,” but he showed affection, too. “If only the dove had hands to hug him back.” It was a joyful scene, and people came from everywhere to see the way the odd couple lived together and looked after each other.
But the staff knew both animals would be better off in the wild, and so they prepared to set them free. The dove was released first, and off it flew. Luo then returned to the place where the macaque was first found, and he was pleased to find the monkey’s family once again in its territory. The baby rejoined the troop without a hitch. With both monkey and bird back in their natural environments, one can only wonder if they will cross paths in the future. If they do, will there be a gesture of recognition?
{INDONESIA, 2010}
The Macaque and the Kitten
&
nbsp; LONG-TAILED MACAQUE
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Primates
FAMILY: Cercopithecinae
GENUS: Macaca
SPECIES: Macaca fascicularis
There 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 primates are long-tailed macaques, and many local villagers believe they guard the religious site against evil spirits.
One macaque recently brought its protective instinct to a more secular task—safeguarding a scrappy kitten that had strayed into arm’s reach.
With more than 300 macaques in four separate troops (territorial groups) living in a relatively small area, it’s not surprising that they occasionally meet other animals pawing across the temple grounds. But to form a bond like the one that this particular macaque formed with this particular kitten seemed extraordinary to the people who witnessed it. Anne Young, who was on vacation and visiting the Sacred Monkey Forest during the time, was one of these witnesses.
“The pair had been together a few days, and whenever the park staff tried to capture the kitten, it would just run back to the monkey,” Anne says. The macaque, 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. Although this species of monkey is quite social—and often lives without fear in close contact with people—this one wanted to keep his pet kitty to himself. He became wary of all the primates around him, and if other macaques or people got too close, he would try to hide his prize—once even using a bit of leaf to cover it—or climb higher or move deeper into the forest with the kitten in his arms.
The kitten, meanwhile, had plenty of opportunities to escape the macaque’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 “alpha male,” or leader, among his own kind, and was probably not getting a lot of affection from the other macaques. And he certainly wasn’t getting much affection from humans, either, as macaques have become something of a nuisance in Ubud, where they wander into rice fields or villages outside of the Forest boundaries and wreak havoc on private property.
The kitten appeared to be traveling solo as well, and may also have been craving some attention and companionship. Fortunately for both unmated primate and homeless feline, they found what they needed in each other among the temple ruins in Ubud.
THE UBUD SACRED MONKEY FOREST
A popular tourist attraction in bali, the Sacred Monkey Forest contains at least 115 different species of trees that provide home and shelter to over 300 macaques.
{MONTANA, U.S.A., 2006}
The Mare and the Fawn
WHITE-TAILED DEER
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
FAMILY: Cervidae
GENUS: Odocoileus
SPECIES: Odocoileus virginianus
MORGAN QUARTER HORSE
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Perissodactyla
FAMILY: Equidae
GENUS: Equus
SPECIES: Equus ferus caballus
Bonnie, a morgan quarter horse, was just ten months old when she first came to live with the Muth family on their farm in Montana. She was adored by all, but especially by twelve-year-old Denise, an animal lover who immediately befriended Bonnie and spent six happy years closely bonded to the animal.
On a snowy morning after she’d turned eighteen, Denise was killed in a tragic car accident, leaving her parents heartbroken. Bob Muth says that as Denise’s best friend and a beloved family member, Bonnie became the living link to their daughter.
As the horse grew older, her already gentle temperament mellowed into something even sweeter. “She was the most affectionate horse I’d ever known,” Bob says. “She would have come into our house if she could have found a way to negotiate the front steps.”
So perhaps her actions one spring day, while extraordinary, aren’t all that surprising.
Coyotes had set up a den at the edge of a field on the Muth farm, and that year the mated pair raised a single pup. An abundant supply of ground squirrels kept the animals well fed through the season. During the first week of June, Bob happened to be looking out the kitchen window and noticed a white-tailed deer giving birth in the barnyard.
The coyotes also noticed. And it quickly became clear that they were intent on getting the fawn away from its mother. “One coyote tried to distract the doe and get it to chase her while her pup was circling around from behind,” wrote Bob after the incident. “I ran out to ‘interfere’ with nature,” but before he could do anything, Bonnie stepped in. Bob watched in awe as the horse got between the coyotes and the fawn, then positioned herself over the fawn to protect it. And to his relief, with Bonnie towering over the tiny animal, the coyotes gave up and moved on. “She didn’t even have to chase them off. They knew they had no chance,” he says.
When the danger passed, Bonnie nickered softly and leaned down to lick the newborn as if she herself had just dropped a foal, nudging the baby into a standing position. “The fawn actually tried to nurse from Bonnie and seemed a bit frustrated that the horse was too tall to reach,” Bob recalls.
The encounter lasted about twenty minutes. The doe, breathing heavily in exhaustion from the birth, had watched from a few feet away. Now recovered and able to stand, she huffed in a signal to her fawn and moved toward the fence, glancing back to make sure her baby was following. The doe jumped over the fence and the fawn squeezed beneath it, and off they went. “Bonnie leaned over the top rail, watching and whinnying,” Bob says.
Bob was heartened by his mare’s nurturing and compassionate behavior, though he expected nothing less of the sweet animal that brought his family so much joy and connected them to the daughter they had lost.
{TOKYO, JAPAN, 2007}
The Monkeys and the Capybaras
SQUIRREL MONKEY
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Primates
FAMILY: cebidae
GENUS: Saimiri
CAPYBARA SPECIES: Simia sciureus
CAPYBARA
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: rodentia
FAMILY: Hydrochaeridae
GENUS: Hydrochoerus
SPECIES: Hydrochoerus
hydrochaeris
One’s up, one’s down. The agile squirrel monkey leaps from tree to tree above; the capybara, South America’s largest rodent (a sort of oversize guinea pig), moves through the grasses or wallows in a stream below. Zoos in different parts of the world have found this pair of animals can get along quite well, even when they meet in the middle.
In some of South America’s wildest places, the animals share a habitat—densely forested areas near bodies of water. So it might not be totally unnatural for them to come face to face in nature. Conveniently for a zoo setting, there’s no competition for space. Each fills a different niche. Remember: one up, one down. But in close quarters, some strange things happen.
While no one trekking through the Amazon River Basin has ever reported monkeys riding capybaras or chasing them and grabbing at their feet, that’s what goes on at the Tobu Zoo near Tokyo, Japan. The monkeys have even been said to use the rodents as step stools to reach the trees, to take naps on their backs, and to “kiss” the rodents on their giant heads.
“Sometimes a squirrel monkey will pry open a capybara’s mouth as if to say, ‘What are you eating?’” says
head zookeeper Yasuhiro Shimo. “Capybaras are gentle animals and seem mostly disinterested. The monkeys, on the other hand, are very physical and act playfully.” Only occasionally “the capybara might get annoyed and shake himself to get the monkey off his back.”
Though their energy levels suggest that they are complete opposites, with the monkey frantic and fast—leaping more than six feet between skinny branches—and the capybara slow and steady, these species actually share some key traits. Both are social types who live in groups of up to one hundred of their own kind. Both have a taste for fruit (though the monkeys munch insects as well), and both are quite vocal—monkeys “chucking” to their young or mates and shrieking if under threat, and the rodents purring, barking, squealing, and grunting as the situation demands.
Yet, despite some similarities, mixing these species doesn’t always go smoothly. Another Japanese zoo that combines the two had an incident years ago when a monkey startled a capybara, and the rodent unfortunately struck out defensively, killing the monkey with a bite to the neck. However, zoo managers believe it was a onetime thing, as they hadn’t seen aggression between the animals before or since. Mostly, everyone gets along fine.
And at Tobu, the monkey–rodent exhibit is a visitor favorite. “Watching the interactions between the mellow capybara and the impish squirrel monkey, it is hard not to smile,” the keeper says. “Viewers especially love the ‘capybara taxi’ taking the monkey for a ride.”
Unlikely Friendships Page 5