Jennifer S. Holland - Unlikely Friendships for Kids: The Dog & The Piglet: And Four Other Stories of Animal Friendships

for Kids

Book Two

The Dog and the Piglet

and Four Other True Stories of Animal Friendships

by
JENNIFER S. HOLLAND

WORKMAN PUBLISHING
NEW YORK

For Cree, an awesome little dude

Copyright 2012 by Jennifer S. Holland

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eISBN: 9780761172109

Photo Credits: COVER: Front, BARCROFT/FAME; INTERIOR: p. 1, p. 10, p. 12, p. 13, p. 15, pp. 16-17, p. 19 BARCROFT/FAME; p. 4 Sebastien Burel/Shutterstock; p. 6 Jennifer Hayes; p. 20, p. 22, pp. 24-25, p. 26 ZooWorld, Panama City Beach, FL; p. 28 Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve; p. 30 anyaivanova/Shutterstock; p. 34, p. 37 Jeffery R. Werner/IncredibleFeatures.com; p. 38, p. 43, p. 44 Rina Deych.

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Chapter One
The Dog and the Piglet

Chapter Two
The Orangutan and the Cat

Chapter Three
The Hippopotamus and the Goat

Chapter Four
The Deer and the Dog

Chapter Five
The Iguana and the Cat

Readers new to this series may want to know how I started writing about unlikely animal friendships. Heres the story.

A few years ago, I went scuba diving on Australias Great Barrier Reef. This is a very special place in the ocean. Thousands of different types of fish live in or around the coral reef.

I noticed a puffer fish swimming near me. The puffer fish was about the size of a softball. He was alone. The puffer fish did not seem to be afraid of me. I swam with him for a little while. He did not swim away.

I went back to the same area the next day. The puffer fish was there. This time, he was not alone. He was swimming with a school of fish called sweetlips.

Sweetlips are very colorful fish. They have wide mouths, which is probably how they got their name. Sweetlips do not usually swim with puffer fish. But that is exactly what was happening. The sweetlips and the puffer fish were swimming together.

I went back again the next day. They were still together! What was going on? Why were they swimming together? I thought it was very interesting that two animals from different species would be hanging around each other like they were friends. It made me wonder if other animals became friends with animals that were very different from them.

I am a science writer. I write about animals. So I decided to write a book about animals of different species who had become friends. I had heard some of these stories before. The story of Owen and Mzee, a tortoise and a hippopotamus who became friends after surviving a tsunami, was already famous. But I went looking for stories I had never heard before. I talked with people all around the world. I looked at many photographs. Sometimes the animal friendships were so unlikely that I wondered if they were true. But when I checked them out, they were!

Five of those stories are in this book. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them!

Jennifer S. Holland

Katjinga was a dog who lived on a farm in Germany. She was a Rhodesian ridgeback. This breed of dog is quite large. Many years ago, people in Africa used ridgebacks to help them hunt lions. These dogs were not only big, they were very fierce.

Katjinga was not a fierce hunting dog, though. She was a very gentle dog. And one night on the farm she proved just how gentle she was.

On that cold night, a little potbellied pig was born. The farmer found the piglet all alone.

The piglets mother was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she had gone to look for food. Or perhaps she had abandoned the tiny piglet. Sometimes animals leave their babies when they are so small that they are not likely to survive. This piglet was so tiny and weak, he did not look like he would live through the night.

The farmer decided to name the shivering piglet Paulinchen. Then he took him back to his home and placed him near Katjinga. He hoped Paulinchen would get warm by lying near the huge dog. And he hoped Katjinga would not mind a tiny potbellied piglet lying down next to her! Katjinga was a ridgeback, after alland ridgebacks once hunted lions. Would this ridgeback be nice to the piglet?

Luckily, Katjinga was more than nice to Paulinchen. She started to mother the little piglet! She nuzzled him. She licked him all over just like mama dogs lick their puppies.

The next day, Katjinga and Paulinchen were snuggled up like two peas in a pod.

Katjinga didnt mind when the piglet tried to nurse from hereven though she had no milk!

In time, when Paulinchen was strong enough, the farmer reunited the piglet with his real mother. But Paulinchen never forgot Katjinga. Every time he saw the big brown dog on the farm, he ran up to nuzzle herjust like Katjinga did to him on the night that he was born.

Tonda, an old orangutan that lived in a zoo, was not known for being nice. In fact, she was downright grouchynot just with the zookeepers, but even with her own mate! And yet, when her mate died, the zookeepers noticed that Tonda got very, very sad.

The zookeepers tried giving Tonda lots of toys to lift her spirits. They filled her days with activities. But Tonda was still sad. She started to eat less. Then the zookeepers had an idea. What if Tonda got introduced to a new friend?