12. The Owl and the Cat
Fum and Gebra, two stars in the open country, a special couple. Fum is a lovely black cat and Gebra a kind barn owl. In Northern Spain, falconer Geordie Emenos would take his barn owl on flying lessons. His cat Fum started tagging along with them. The cat would watch the owl with interest, then one day the cat would leap at the owl, and since then have become great friends. They will play together all the time, even up trees and cuddle into each other.
11. The Crow and the Cat
Cassie the cat and Moses the crow just showed up one day in the yard of Ann and Wallace Collito, a Massachussetts couple, and stayed there. Their antics, videotaped by the elderly couple, have drawn more than 5 million views on YouTube. The relationship lasted four years, until Moses flew off. “Maybe he got a girlfriend, we don’t know what happened to the crow,” said Wallace. His wife, Ann, has since passed away, but Wallace still treasures Cassie the cat. The elderly couple had never seen either animal until they showed up in his garden, amazing.
10. The Elephant and the Dog
Bubbles, a 9,000-pound elephant, and Bella, the Labrador retriever, are the very best of friends. They live together at the Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina. And luckily, the park has documented some of the pair's adorable interspecies play dates. Sometimes, Bubbles and Bella go for walks together. Other times, they go for long swims. Bubbles was adopted by the safari in 1983, then, in 2007, a contractor hired to build Bubbles a swimming pool abandoned puppy Bella at the park's preserve. And so, a beautiful friendship was born.
9. The Orangutan and the Hound Dog
Orphaned at a young age, an orangutan named Suryia was rescued by an animal sanctuary in South Carolina. Initially, he did not do well at the sanctuary. He became socially withdrawn and did not eat. Fortunately, he came around. Suryia’s caretakers would try to cheer him up by taking him on an elephant ride down to the pond to play and swim. On one of these trips, Suryia spotted a stray dog. Immediately, he ran to the dog, and the two seemed like old friends reuniting. After playing in the water together, they said goodbye to the dog. The pooch, however, was not ready to leave his friend, and kept finding ways to get through the sanctuary’s fence and locate Suryia’s habitat. The sanctuary workers tried to locate the dog’s owner to no avail. They renamed the pooch Roscoe, and he and Suryia have been incredible friends ever since.
8. The Cheetah and the Dog
Cheetah conservation is serious work. Though their numbers have been in decline for the past century, the global population has dropped by about 85% since 1990. Conservationists must match individuals for mating very carefully to avoid inbreeding depression. With only around 7,000 individuals left, conservationists are desperate to stabilize the population so it can rebound. Understandably, this puts a lot of stress on the cheetahs, which can result in cats refusing to mate. To make the cats more relaxed, they are given a friend. From the time they are very small, cheetahs are matched with puppies, typically from rescue shelters. The animals are slowly introduced and bonding is encouraged through shared toys. Eventually, the friends are allowed to run and play and the cheetahs are able to blow off some steam and relax from the pressures of trying to repopulate the species. Cheetahs that are given some playtime with a dog are more willing to accept a mate. Though the cheetahs can easily overpower their canine friends, the dogs are the dominant ones in the relationship. The two cannot be fed at the same time; otherwise the dog will eat both of the meals.