Have you heard about the book, Unlikely Friendships
Jennifer’s 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom showcases tales of friendships between animals that you’d never expect would be buds. Some of these adorable interspecies friendships were brought together by human intervention, like the runt of the litter piglet rejected by its siblings but given a second chance with a Dachshund, while others happened on their own, like the Tortoise and the Hippo who were discovered one morning cuddling with each other (OMG how cute, right?) There’s even a hamster that was intended to be dinner for a snake, but the two declared peace instead.
Each story is accompanied by a scientific outline of the species involved with the phylum, class, order, etc. It would make a fantastic gift for your animal loving friends. Or for you. 
The thing I love about this book is it shows how animals can transcend what they are “supposed” to do and hang with anyone they darn well choose. Sometimes I wonder why humans make everything so complicated. If cats ran the world there would be fewer wars and more naps. Take note humans, if your animal pals can find contentment and friendship, so can you.
Pugsley and I have even made peace with the Crawling-Drooling-Pooping-Crying Creature. She pulled my tail the other day and got a fistful of fur but it’s all good. She does get the staff up earlier these days, so we’re cool.
Unlikely Friendships is also a Unlikely Friendships 2012 Wall Calendar
AND I am giving TEN of them away to lucky readers! That’s right! Ten! Just leave a comment below telling me a story of an unlikely friendship you’ve experienced or heard about or witnessed. If you don’t have your own story, tell me what you think would be a hilariously unlikely friendship!
LEAVE YOUR COMMENT BY TOMORROW, NOON EST THURSDAY DECEMBER 15 so I can make sure you get your calendar in time for the new year (maybe even by Christmas!) Then check your email tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. so I can get your address if you are a winner!
Good luck and Happy Holidays!
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
What a wonderful idea. There are great loves in this world. It is fun to discover the ones that are ‘special.’ I’d love to be reminded of it daily with a beautiful calender by winning one! Thanks for the opportunity!
I love the story of Owen and Mzee, a giant tortoise and a hippo who are best friends!
We are cutting it close be we hopes we are still in time. Well Artemisia & Fenris are a pretty unlikely pair of friends. WE mean Fenris is a gigantic doggie and Arty is a tiny tiny cat. Maybe one day Mommy can get a good picture of those two for a calendar.
Do you remember our red Persian cat, Lobo, who raised our Rhode Island Red chicks. The imprinted on him, and used to groom him and nestle beneath him, Persians make very warm beds, as I’m sure you know.
Much love.
Great Contest.
Carolyn and the Rescue Persians
I am writing about the friendship of my cat and pet parrot – Starsky and Hutch. When I first got Hutch he was terrified of Starsky. Starsky use to sit by the cage and torment the poor Hutch. He would hiss at Hutch and stick his paw through the bars of the cage. One day I came home to find Hutch sitting on Starsky’s back. All this time I thought Starsky was trying to get at Hutch when all he wanted was a hug. They are inseperable now
what a wonderful reminder that we don’t know everything! Thank you for the opportunity!
This story involves a dog and a turkey…My sister- in- law had a german shepard dog who loved everyone .. but one day he especially loved the turkey that was cooling down on a counter from being slow cooked all night in the oven … and when the family left for Church that fateful Christmas morning … the dog showed his love by consuming the entire Christmas Dinner Turkey while the family was at Church… everyone had Chinese that night… Merry Christmas …
This is a great book, thanks for mentioning it !! Animals can teach us a thing or two, it seems.
If I could show my two cats this calendar, perhaps it would convince them to get along better. That would be a Christmas miracle!
I forgot to add my favorite “Odd Couple” to my original post. I, too, love the story of Bella the dog and her best friend Tara the elephant. I cry everytime I watch the video on You Tube. Very touching.
I would love to have this calendar. I love all kinds of “Odd Couples” and this sounds like it has a lot of them.
My favorite unlikely friendship this year is Bella-the-dog and Tarra-the-elephant. What a beautiful friendship these two had (Bella died recently)! Now, if only my Lab and my cats could declare a truce…
The most unlikely friendship I’ve witnessed is between my seriously ‘scared-y-cat’ Lucille and my dog Reggie. Lucille will disappear at the least little noise and rarely will even stay on my lap when something unusual happens. She doesn’t hang out with my other 3 cats, either. However, I did walk into the living room the other day and Lucille was rubbing up against Reggie, my 17 lb. Benji look-alike. She was rubbing her cheek against his head and licking the outside of his ears. Then she curled up next to him and slept with her head on his back. So sweet and adorable but totally unexpected!!!
When you live in the country you see lots of God’s creatures and many neat animal interactions, but one of my favorite unlikely animal friendships was in my own home. I raise guinea fowl on our farm and exotic cats in the house, but occasionally need to bring the baby guineas (keets) indoors for some reason.
The last time I needed to bring a few keets into the house I had an American Bobtail named Purr who was especially interested in the baby birds and would sit for hours watching their cage. So one morning when I awoke and one of my favorite keets was nowhere to be found, I was devastated knowing it had somehow escaped and Purr had made a snack of it. I looked everywhere and the tears were coming when I heard a noise and in a corner of the kitchen, and there walking all around Purr was that little baby guinea….and he was not bothering it at all!
I raised that guinea in the house for several months and named her Smidgeon and during that time, she and Purr got along fine. She would often roost on my shoulder while Purr sat in my lap. Smidgeon now lives in the Guinea/chicken House outside with the rest of her guinea family and my beloved Purr has gone on to the next life. But I will never forget him or those special days…..
Hard to choose among those I’ve experienced. The latest is between my adopted cat, Anu, and a raccoon. Anu belonged to a friend of mine who had asked me to be her cats’ guardian, finding them a home when she died. When she died, her cats had been locked outside (with access to the cellar) for a few days and were nowhere to be seen. Anu finally showed himself and over a few weeks, I gained his trust through the universal language of food. One day, as I came to the house, he saw me and darted for the cellar cat door. I saw a little raccoon face peeking under the gate – not surprised since my friend said she thought some raccoons may have been eating the cat food she put out. I opened the cellar door; up the steps raced Anu to greet me – with a big raccoon galloping up 10 inches behind him. Thinking the raccoon was going to hurt Anu, I threw a can at it. The cat, obviously concluding I’d changed into an axe murderer, bolted. The raccoon stared at me cheekily and finally left. Cat would not come out, so I left food in the cellar and busied myself in the house. Before leaving, I opened the door, and there they were. Raccoon and cat, nose to nose, eating out of the same bowl. I then understood Anu’s rather curious habit of picking up his food with his paw and eating off his paw – learned from the raccoon. I would often see them together in the yard, lolling in the sun, until I finally was in a position to adopt Anu and bring him to my home. No, I didn’t bring the raccoon. I often think of the two of them and their unlikely friendship and wonder if Anu does as well.
Hi, so GREAT!!! of you to offer this to us animals lovers. I have always had a pet whether a dog, cat all my life. Recently, I went through a difficult time in my life. In comes Baylee (aka Bella before I found out taking HER to the vet it was a HE :] ) he pulled me from under this black cloud that was hovering around me. He would NOT allow me to pull the covers over my head in the bed. He just made me laugh all the time and still does. I really owe him alot, times are not as hard now and life seems much brighter for me, because of my Baylee. He has been with me since he was 6 wks. old now he is a health 11lbs. and a birthday coming up ( 1yr. old Jan. 19, 2012) My little Baylee Boy means so much to me.
Sincerely, Bree
my favorite is from the Elephant Sanctuary in TN- the dog and elephant that were pals for years
Approximately 9 years ago we had a Canadian Goose show up at our house that was people
friendly. I would grind up field corn in my blender so that it would eat from my hand. My daughter would pick it up in her arms and she dressed it up in a Cleveland Browns outfit that is designed to be put on an ornamental stone goose. We have a large pond but it wouldn’t get in the water unless I went in our paddle boat. Then it would get into the water and follow me around the pond as I paddled. It stayed with us for awhile, but flew away one day and never came back. The bad part about it was that my sidewalks and driveway were always a mess with you know what.
My mom adopted an elderly stray who was hanging out by our duplex when I was little (our first cat) We named ‘her’ Suzy (but then found out she was a HE -so we had ‘a boy named Sue’). I also had a hamster named Alfie who was very smart, he snuck out of his cage somehow & we couldn’t find him all day. We noticed that Suzy was being lazier than usual, sleeping in the closet & not coming out much. After much searching I went to visit Suzy and soon found Alfie in a shoebox in the back of the closet asleep. Apparently Suzy had been guarding my hamster all day to keep him safe from our other cat. They were friends everafter that and Alfie would often go to Suzy when I let him out of his cage to play.
Animals are such loving things and seen to be able to adapt to almost anything. Why can’t we as humans be like animals and get along, not hold grudges and give unconditional love.
I always had my doubts about cats until I got my first kitten and then it was love at first site. She got sick after I had her for a week and I was so attached to her by then I also got sick because I loved her so much. I took her to the vet and she survived for many many years as well as her six kittens. I have been a kitten lover ever since.
I don’t have any wonderful stories like those above, but I do have a house full an animals and and a yard full of wonderful birds. I’d love to have a calendar.
For 53 years, my husband thought he wasn’t a cat person. We always had dogs and still have 2 Great Danes. But 5 years later, we just adopted our 13th cat from our local shelter! Guess you can teach an “old dog” new tricks after all!
My dad HATED cats. I mean to the point where he’d try to run over ones he saw in the street, (He never did to my knowledge), could have written the “101 things to do with a dead cat” books, etc. So we always had dogs growing up until my junior year of high school. That’s when I brought home this tiny, 2.5 lb tuxedo cat I named Morgan. For some reason, Morgan decided my dad was his favorite human in the house and proceeded to win him over. I think it was when the tiny kitten put our big 75 lb collie Laddie in his place when they were first introduced by swiping him across the nose! For 15 years my dad and Morgan were best buddies. I wouldn’t say my dad is a cat lover now, but he does make a point to bring treats for my kitties when he comes to visit now.
My brother has a yellow lab, chihuahua pomeranian mix, stray cat and a guinea pig that all get along very well together. Add 4 children 11 and under in the mix and I would call that and Unlikely Friendship!
I think it’s sad that I have had so much hate in my life and so little time to experience animals who love each other like this It would be ironically funny to see a friendship form between a bird from an endangered species and a kitten, particularly with the restraining order against TNR & the city of LA – one of the parties being the Audubon.
My old cat Bailey (a.k.a. Derwin) had a friend who lived on our lanai here in Florida…a gecko. Bailey was enthralled, transfixed with Gecko’s comings and goings. Bailey would gently touch his back and dart after him when he would sprint away. This went on for many weeks. Unfortunately, this unlikely friendship came to an end when my son’s cat, Tigger, came to vacation with us. She is quite the huntress. My heart just broke when she proudly presented Gecko to me as a gift. Bailey just looked at his friend lying there…not moving when he gently touched him. Sadness prevailed for a number of days as Bailey searched for his friend to no avail.
Maybe it’s not as “unlikely” of a friendship, but I would honestly, seriously, love to have a kitty come live with me. Yes, I’m a dog…but I am also very fascinated by kitties. I don’t chase them. I don’t try to pounce them. I just like to sit and watch them! In fact, I try to hide if the kitty comes up to me. I really just like to watch kitties…
Once upon a time we had a Doberman, a cat, and 2 rabbits. Sometimes we would turn them all loose in the backyard and watch them play together. The Dobie would lay down and the rabbits would hop over and around her. The cat seemed to just enjoy rolling around in the grass and watching them.
A few years ago there was a young deer walking around close to our house, it was during the early evening. My father in law was working in his garden and started to go towards his house. He happened to look over and see the young deer, it didn’t run from him or anything but walked slowly towards him and he reached out his hand. There was a stray cat who adopted us, we called her Crybaby. She was in the garden with my father in law, she stayed close to him and then started to walk around the deer. The deer smelled his hand and rubbed his head against it. My father in law started to pet him and my hubby and I were comming out of my in law’s house. My father in law motioned to us to come towards them but slowly, so my hubby went first and was able to pet the deer. I called my mother in law to get the camera and she did, I walked out with the camera and handed it to my father in law, I pet the deer, his coat was soft but oily. A few evenings after that there were 3 young deers that came to visit and Crybaby was right there with them while they hung around the yard. My father in law pet all 3 of them and Crybaby was always rubbing against their legs, then one day they quit comming by.
I had a cat, Squeaker, that I bottle fed from 3 days old (her mother was a feral who was either killed or abandoned her babies). When she was about 4, I brought home a sick Australian Budgie (parakeet) from the pet store where my now ex boyfriend worked to try & nurse him back to health. I would hold the Budgie in my lap on a heating pad and pet him. I would tell Squeaker he was a baby & she needed to love him. She began grooming the bird and would snuggle with him when I was holding him. They only had supervised interactions cuz she is a cat after all! LOL But she liked her Birdie and he loved her too! I had him for almost 8 years and they were good buds til the end.
My unlikely friendship is between my daughter and a grey squirrel who showed up in our backyard two summers ago. The squirrel climbed onto her lap and let her pet and play with it. It hung around our yard for at least an hour. It was so tame I was sure it was someone’s house pet and even posted the question on Facebook, ‘Has anyone lost their pet squirrel?’ I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.
I read an article earlier in the year about a man that was friends with a goose. He goes to visit her almost daily at a nearby park and she waits for him and they walk together. It was one of the greatest stores I’d ever read! http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/13/local/la-me-scooter-goose-20110213
my unlikely friendship is with a ferret. my sister had one that would hiss and yell at me everytime I entered the room. i tried to love on it but however that pet hated me for some reason. Don’t know why but it did.
What a great calendar! What a great way to remind us we are in this together. Would love to win!