In 2020, a video capturing a rare interaction between a badger and a coyote went viral online. The video was captured by a remote sensor camera in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. The video showed two animals.
Their playful behavior suggests that the two share a friendly bond, but can animals really be friends like humans can?
In many social animal species, certain behaviors suggest that individuals may indeed be more attached to certain individuals (in addition to close relatives and mates) than to others. Similar foraging styles Specific greetings Appearance Groom them
“Individuals develop social relationships to navigate their environments.” Delphine de Moor
If animals can form stable, long-lasting, mutually beneficial bonds — the qualities we see in human friendships — then “friendship can be found in the animal kingdom,” de Moor said.
Scientists studying primates have discovered that neurochemistry plays a big role in strengthening such bonds. Catherine Crockford
In primates, grooming releases oxytocin, a hormone that controls behavior, “which sends it to the reward center, probably acting as a positive feedback system, making you more likely to groom again,” Crockford told Live Science. Grooming a friend also reduces cortisol, a hormone associated with stress. In contrast, cortisol levels are unaffected when apes groom group members with whom they don’t have a bond, Crockford added.
“There appear to be physiological benefits to engaging in activities like grooming, especially with a bonded partner,” she says.
Related: Do animals hug each other?
An orphaned female chimpanzee (right) holds hands with a male chimpanzee at Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Kenya. When a young chimp is orphaned, he or she is sometimes adopted by an older male or female friend of the parent. (Image credit: Nature Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo)
Scientists first reported on reciprocal friendships in primates through observations of matriarchal groups of monkeys, but Crockford said evidence of friendship and its benefits in other mammals has grown in the past few decades.
“Individuals who are able to maintain these strong relationships end up living longer, having more offspring, and showing fewer associated signs of stress,” she says. “There seem to be some really big benefits to maintaining these relationships.”
For example, killer whales Share information about food and where to find food Hyena makes new friends
But friendship also comes with responsibility, de Moor added: “At some point, animals become willing to take much greater risks and much more costly behaviours for their preferred mate,” he said.
Consider a vampire bat sacrificing itself to save a starving friend. Share the food you just swallowed
Friendships are so strong among chimpanzees that when a mother dies and leaves her young behind, “her male and female friends” [of the parent] “We might adopt the baby,” Crockford said, adding that raising a young one can be taxing on the new parents, especially if the adopted one is male.
“His pace of life will need to slow down overall,” Crockford says, “he’ll have to carry the offspring, keep up with their pace, share the nest with them at night, and he’ll be less able to engage in social interactions and aggressive interactions with other individuals.”
Interspecies friendship
Mutual trust can also develop between species. In 2022, Groundbreaking Research
Animal friendships can also be fostered by human intervention. Cats and dogs who live in the same home often form close bonds. At a private zoo in Belgium, The orangutan made friends with a group of otters Lion and dog
Related: Do animals really have instincts?
While the playful display of friendship between California badgers and coyotes has never been observed before, de Moor said such interspecies relationships may be more common in the wild than scientists thought. In some animal groups, such as primates, elephants and dolphins, social behavior has been observed for decades and some relationships have been studied over the course of the animals’ lifetimes, so much more is known about animal friendships.
“We only know what we have studied; we don’t know what we haven’t studied,” De Moor said.
Crockford noted that evidence of friendship in animals in general, and primates in particular, sheds light on the evolutionary basis of our capacity for friendship. Approximately 25 million years ago
“These mechanisms are deep and ancient,” she says. “In an age where money, fame, clicks, and other things take precedence over friendship, this is a really wonderful reminder that at our core, we are meant to have friends. And when we succeed in having friends and taking them seriously, we live longer, are healthier, and have less stress.”
