Unlikely Friendships

Don’t forget to check a previous one – Animal Instinct: The World’s Most Unlikely Friendships.

An orphaned rhesus monkey and white dove that seemed to have lost its mate forged a special bond at the Neilingding Island-Futian National Nature Reserve in China. The monkey was born on the island but had strayed from its mother. Luckily, it was taken in by work staff in the protection center and became friends with the pigeon that had lingered there after possibly losing its mate. (Photo by CNImaging/Photoshot)

It’s not clear why or when this stray black cat turned up in the bear enclosure at the Berlin Zoo. But something is clear: She’s been coming back for 10 years to see her friend, the oldest known female Asiatic bear. (Photo by EPA/Alexander Ruesche)

Chicks perch on a Siamese-snowshoe cat, who keeps the little ones in a line with her nose, and a pit bull, who is a loving father figure to many animals on their Texas farm. (Photo by Helen J. Arnold)

A big goldfish, or koi, named Falstaff swims over to the pond’s edge for another meeting with a golden retriever named Chino in a backyard pond in Oregon. (Photo by Bob Pennell/Mail Tribune)

An orphaned Madagascar teal duckling snuggles under orphaned kookaburra (a predator to the former). (Photo by Solentnew.co.uk)

A young elephant, who lost his mama, cozies up to his comforting sheep pal at the Shamwari Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in South Africa. (Photo by Rex USA)

A cockatoo named Coco throws her whole body into a backrub for cohabiting friend, house tabby Lucky, in Savannah, Georgia. (Photo by CNImaging/Photoshot)