Making New Friends

You may have recently seen a video from the Beijing Wildlife Zoo going viral. What exactly was so interesting about this video？ It shows a dog playing with big cats four to five times its size！ Many people might wonder if this dog has a death wish， but it seems that the dog and the big cats are good friends.

The dog was actually raised alongside the lion and tiger cubs， making up an odd but loving family， according to zoo officials. If you think this is a bit too wild， just remember that cross-species friendship has been common for centuries. People have domesticated many animals， most notably cats and dogs， and formed bonds with them as pets. Perhaps you even have a pet yourself.

There are many other instances of crossspecies friendships in captivity.

At an animal sanctuary in Santiago， Chile， a kitten named Marina and a piglet named Laura formed a friendship after they both came to the park. As neither animal had a mother， sanctuary staff said they instantly bonded when they met. Laura had been rescued from a slaughterhouse while Marina had been rescued from the street.

One possible explanation for these friendships is the environment of the zoo. Animals don’t hunt for their food and don’t need to worry about marking their territory or looking for mates in the way an animal in the wild would.“All those activities take time and energy， and if these needs are removed， the animals get bored，”Gordon Burghardt， a psychologist at The University Of Tenessee， US， told The Atlantic magazine.“In this particular situation， the animal’s motivation to engage socially and playfully may be higher in its need hierarchy than eating.”

Marc Bekoff， former biology professor at the University of Colorado， US， told Slate magazine，“I think the choices animals make in cross- species relationships are the same as they’d make in same- species relationships. Some dogs don’t like every other dog. Animals are very selective about the other individuals who they let into their lives.”

你最近或許看到过一段北京野生动物园的视频在网络上爆红。这个视频究竟有趣在哪里？视频中，一条狗在和相当于它体型四、五倍大小的大型猫科动物玩耍！很多人可能会想，狗是不是在找死，但这条狗似乎和“大猫们”是好朋友。

据动物园工作人员介绍，这条狗实际上是和狮子、老虎幼崽一起养大的，于是它们组成了一个奇特又有爱的家庭。如果你觉得这有点太疯狂了，请记住，跨物种的友谊已经持续了几个世纪。人类已经驯养了许多动物，最出名的便是猫和狗，人类将动物当作宠物，与其建立情感联结。也许你自己都养着一只宠物呢。

圈养环境中，还有许多其它跨物种友谊的例子。

在智利圣地亚哥的一个动物保护区，一只名叫玛丽娜的小猫和一只名叫劳拉的小猪在来到园区后建立了友谊。保护区工作人员说，这两只动物都没有母亲，因此一见面就变得亲密起来。劳拉是从屠宰场救出来的，而玛丽娜是从街上救助的。

对于这些友谊，一个可能的解释是动物园的环境使然。动物不需要捕猎食物，也不需要像野生动物那样担心标记领地或寻找配偶。“所有这些活动都将耗费时间和精力，如果动物们不需要操心这些需求，就会感到无聊。”美国田纳西大学心理学家戈登·伯格哈特在接受《大西洋月刊》采访时表示，“在这种特殊情况下，动物们交朋友、玩耍的动机就可能处于比进食更高的需求层次。”

美国科罗拉多大学前生物学教授马克·贝科夫在接受《页岩》杂志采访时表示：“我认为动物在跨物种关系中做出的选择和在同物种关系中做出的选择一样。有些狗不喜欢其他的狗。动物对进入其生活的其他个体非常挑剔。”

（选自《21世纪学生英文报》）