Arizona Humane Society Pet Behavior and Training Center Director Jenny Dagnino says that social bonds between animals of different species are quite common.
Pets like dogs and cats are social animals, and they often enjoy being around people and other animals. “Relationships are quite secure if pets and other animals are exposed to each other in early life or have positive interactions over a long period of time,” she said.”
Mutually beneficial friendships between different species can occur in nature (like honey badgers hunting alongside foxes or coyotes), but some close relationships have developed thanks to Humans are “matchmakers”.
Human domestication of animals has created the basis for a number of interspecies partnerships and friendships that otherwise would likely never have existed. So you can see how friendships often develop between animals that live with or near humans.
The basis for friendship can be in many ways, but one of the most common ways it begins is through play. When animals play together, they grow closer and can eventually become best friends. Not much different from humans!
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