For some time already, science has focused on unusual interactions between species. Yet until recently, any suggestion that interspecies relationships might be based on companionship would have probably met with derision and dismissed as anthropomorphic illusions. These attitudes, however, are bound to change as research is gradually beginning to erode some boundaries separating homo sapiens and other animals. Other species, it turns out, share abilities once considered exclusive to humans, including tool use, counting, certain aspects of language, emotions, and even a sense of morale. Given these findings, why would it be so outrageous to suggest that relationships between animals generally considered arch enemies (or at least incompatible) could not only exist, but indeed develop into long-lasting, trusting relationships?

Barbara J. King, an anthropologist at the College of William and Mary, suggested some criteria for the term “relationship”: a relationship, she proposed, must be sustained for some period of time; there must be mutuality, with both of the animals engaged in the interaction; and some sort of accommodation must take place in the service of the relationship, whether a modification in behavior or in communication. On the Internet there is no shortage of stories about animals that have reached out across species barriers. However, in some of the more popular online videos and YouTube clips (e.g. of a snake frolicking with a hamster, its intended lunch) these criteria are clearly missing since it is unclear whether the two are best friends or whether the snake simply is not hungry.

The beginning of my paper relies on the findings of Barbara Smuts––a professor of psychology and anthropology––who has lived among baboons in the wild and has shocked some of her colleagues by applying the word “friendship” to describe bonds between female baboons. Based on the story of her dog, Safi, an 80-pound German Shepherd mix, who forges a friendship with a donkey named Wister on a ranch in Wyoming in the 1990s, Smuts not only observed the gradual development of an unusual relationship, but also the development of a common language between the two animals.
I my presentation I will look at various examples of cross-species interactions which––although occurring in an environment controlled by humans––could nevertheless add to our understanding of how species communicate, what constitutes a “friendship” between members of different species, what propels certain animals to connect across species lines, and the degree to which some animals can adopt the behaviors of other species.