Free Unlikely Friendships : 47 Remarkable Stories From the Animal Kingdom by Jennifer S. Holland Page A

harming him. Then, her dominance established, the seal’s mood seemed to swing in Paul’s favor. She hovered near him in the water, swimming within arm’s reach, as if posing for the camera. In a most astonishing move, the seal hunted down and killed a penguin—its own prey—then offered it to Paul repeatedly, as if trying to feed one of her own young. “It seemed that she was worried about my health. I was clearly too slow a predator to take care of myself,” Paul recalls. When the photographer ignored the food offering (always wary of interacting with any wild animal more than necessary), “she brought me live penguins and would place them on my camera dome, then retrieve them for me when they escaped, blowing bubbles in my face as if exasperated by my passive nature.” Finally, she ate penguins in front of Paul, “showing me how it’s done.”
    Her sleek beauty amazed Paul. The deadly power turnedtender took his breath away. “My heart was pounding and I was elated every time she’d approach. It was the most remarkable interaction I’ve ever had,” he says.
    Over the course of several days, this wild creature that dwarfed him in size and strength became a human photographer’s greatest companion. At the end of the shoot, “it was hard to leave her behind,” he says. “I’d experienced something unique and magical that I’d never forget.”

{T EXAS, U.S.A., 2009}

The
Pit Bull,
the
Siamese Cat,
and the
Chicks

    CHICKEN

KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Galliformes
FAMILYM: Phasianidae
GENUS:
Gallus

SPECIES:
Gallus gallus

    PIT BULL

Pit bulls often get a bad rap for being dangerous, but studies have shown that they are no more aggressive than other breeds: it’s the way they are raised that determines how they will be have.

    SIAMESE CAT

originally from Siam, the siamese cat is considered to be one of the few “natural” breeds in existence, which means it developed entirely with out the intervention of humans.
    Chicks dig sharky. The tiny cotton puffs perch on his back, peck at his snout, and use him as a raft in the pool. They’re also strangely fond of a Siamese-snowshoe cat called Max, who noses them into line. And Max and Sharky, well, since the cat put the dog in his place with a paw-slap or two, they’ve gotten along better than fine. To Helen Jürlau, an Estonian who moved to Texas, it’s a crazy circus of personalities—just the way she likes it.
    She grew up on a farm raising pigs and cows, gathering eggs still warm from the hen. So when she moved to the States with her American husband, Helen was soon bringing animals back to the house, starting with a potbellied pig. “It made me feel athome,” she says. And as the zoo grew, the relationships among the animals took wonderful turns.
    Sharky dove into fatherhood before he was a year old and was like an excited big brother to his pups. “He couldn’t wait to see them, even more than the female,” says Helen. “If I’d ask, ‘Where are your babies?’ his eyes would sparkle and he’d run off to look for them. He’s just in heaven when he’s surrounded by all his babies.” Those babies came to include Siamese cat Max and the batches of chicks that Helen gets each spring. “When he sees those chicks, his eyes grow huge and he wants to play,” she says. He doesn’t discriminate between furred and feathered. “I think he just wants to protect anything that’s small and helpless. Guinea pigs, rabbits, chicks, the pig, he just won’t leave them alone. Everyone gets kisses.”
    Now, Helen photographs and videotapes the animals to share their bizarre friendships with the world. Some favorite scenes caught on film could be subtitled this way:
Chicks line up atop dog. Chick slides down seated dog’s back. Dog, cat, and chicks cuddle together. Chicks