Because interspecies friendship is such a unique and interesting possibility, any unusual interspecies friendship will usually be covered in the news. For example, when a mother cat will nurse baby puppies. Or a dog adopts a bear cub. These heartwarming animal stories make the news hour seem a little more palatable. Everyone can appreciate just how special interspecies friendship is and so the public eats up news stories about it. Perhaps it is because they are so heartwarming. Maybe it is because these stories can help human beings consider and remember tolerance.
One could say that a symbiotic relationship in nature could be considered an interspecies friendship. While such a relationship is not a traditional friendship, it can be construed as such. For example, the crocodile and the Egyptian Plover bird can be considered to be “friends” of sorts. Although you may think that the crocodile would feed on the bird, it does not. The crocodile actually allows the bird to rest on its head and body, and even to step inside its mouth to feed on parasites that plague the crocodile. In exchange for this grooming, the crocodile protects the bird from predators.
Animals that are brought up within the same household often experience an interspecies friendship. A house that has several dogs, a few cats, a parrot, and even a turtle could be the prime example of how this could occur. If the animals are all brought up and raised together, they would not necessarily consider each other enemies (like cats and dogs often are, or birds and cats). When all these animals live within one household, they form their own group, or pack, and exist as friends. While this is not guaranteed to happen in every household, it is very common.
However, the most common interspecies relationship is that between man and pet. There is nothing more fulfilling than the love a pet owner and pet can share. Many times, the pet adopts the humans as its parent or friend and vice versa. Usually, pet owners claim that their beloved cat, dog, bird, or horse, for example, is their child and treat the animal as such. Pets will love their owners unconditionally and pro vide years of companionship.
An interspecies friendship can be as fulfilling for human beings or two species of animals. Just because an old saying implies that cats and dogs cannot get along does not mean it is true. Animals require plenty of companionship and love just as human beings do, and many will engage in an interspecies friendship.