unlikely friendships brochure

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JENNI FER S . HOLLA ND 4 7 r emarkable s tories  from the a nimal  k ingdom Unlik e l y F r i e ndships

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JENNI FER S. HOLLA ND

47 remarkable stories  from the  animal   k ingdom

Unlike

ly Friendships

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I  t   i s n ’ t  u n u s u a l   f o r  h u m a n  b e i n g s  t o  c o n n e c t 

 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 rst 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 briey, friendship

is a plus. And in all of the cases that follow, the animals involved

are arguably better off—more condent, physically stronger, in

higher spirits—after nding each other than they were before.

Why do unlike creatures get together? Often biologists can

point to an obvious benet to one or both animals—related to

spotting predators, keeping parasites at bay, staying warm, nd-

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 introduction

Unlikely Friendships

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z      q

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 nd 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.

{south africa, 2008}

The Elephantand the Sheep

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Why a sheep? They might not seem like the

brightest of animals, but in truth their intel-

ligence falls just below that of pigs, which are

quite smart. They can recognize individuals

over the long term, can distinguish among dif -

ferent emotions based on facial expressions,

and will react emotionally to familiar faces

of various species. So bonding with another

kind of animal might not be as unlikely as it

rst 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 rst introduced, Themba chased Albert around the water-

ing hole, apping his ears and lifting his tail to look as large and

threatening as possible. Albert ed, as sheep instinct demands,

and hid for hours. Over three days of wary gestures and tentative

touches the pair nally accepted each other, and the result proved well worth the stressful beginning.

 “I still remember the day Albert took the rst leaves

off a tree where Themba was feeding,” says Dr. Johan

 Joubert, the center’s wildlife director. “We knew they

truly bonded when they started to sleep cuddled up

together. I must admit we were concerned that Themba

 would lie down on top of Albert and crush him by

mistake!”

     q

 

D O M E S T I C S H E E P 

K I N G D O M :  A nimaliaP H Y L U M :  Chor dataCL A SS: M ammalia

O R D E R : A r tiodacty laF A M I L Y :  Bov idae

G E N U S:  O v isSP E CI E S:  O v is ar ies

 

A F R I CA N

 E L E P HA N T

 K I N G D O M:  A n i m

a l ia

 P H Y L U M:  C h o

 rda ta

 C L A S S:  Ma m ma l ia

 O R D E R:   P r

 o b o s c ida e

 F A M I L Y:  E l e

 p ha n t ida e

 G E N U S:  L o

 x oda n ta

 S P E C I E S

:  A f r i ca na

z

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Once the bond took hold, the elephant and sheep were insepa-

rable. They’d nap in tandem, horse around together, and Themba

  would rest his trunk on Albert’s wooly back as they explored

their enclosure or went in search of snacks. Though keepers

expected Themba to imitate the elder Albert, instead the sheep

became the copycat, even learning to feed on Themba’s favorite

leaves—from a thorny acacia plant not typically in a sheep’s diet. 

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  Johan Joubert and his staff 

had always planned to reintro-

duce Themba to his family in the

reserve where he was born. Butduring 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.

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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 believethey 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 beentogether 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

{indonesia, 2010}

         b    8

The Macaque and the Kitten

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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.

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SPECIFICATIONS

Paperback with french aps

$12.95 U.S./$15.95 Can.

No. 15913

ISBN 978-0-7611-5913-1

Full-color photographsthroughout; 7" x 8"

208 pages

Ships: June 2011

6-copy counter displayNo. 26508

ISBN 978-0-7611-6508-8

$77.70 U.S./$95.70 Can.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

BOOKSELLERSCraig Popelars

919-967-0108 ext. 15

[email protected] 

 

MEDIA

Selina Meere

212-614-7505

[email protected] 

 

THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP

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 mostunexpected 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 extraordinaryimpulse gift for every animal lover.

WORKMAN PUBLISHING225 Varick Street

New York, NY 10014-4381www.workman.com

©2011 W k P bli hi C I

Ships withpromotional

poster!

LIBRARIANS AND TEACHERSMichael Rockliff 

212-614-7572

[email protected] 

 

ORDERING INFORM ATION

Contact your Workman sales representative

or Workman Publishing Company

212-254-5900 * 800-722-7202,

or fax 800-521-1832

 

MA R KE TI N G & P U BL I C I TY:

• Author events in New York and Washington, D.C.

• National radio satellite tour

• YouTube advertising

• Dedicated landing page with video links

• Social media campaign