Interspecies friendship: Suryia the orangutan and Roscoe the dog

10/30/2009

The unusual friendship of Suryia the orangutan and Roscoe the dog touched my heart, a heartwarming example of inter-species friendship. They live at the Myrtle Beach Safari, a 50 acre preserve in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – open to the public for interactive conservation adventures and run by T.I.G.E.R.S. (The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species) – and the two animals spend much of their time together. They love to swim together in the lake, with Suryia grabbing hold of the pup as he swims. Suryia takes Roscoe for walks on the dog leash, and they snuggle and hug and horseplay together.

It all started when Suryia, an “animal ambassador” for her species –endangered Borneo orangutans – was riding on one of the safari elephants with T.I.G.E.R.S. founder and director Bhagavan Antle. They were riding down to the river, when a scrawny stray dog suddenly came out of the woods. Dogs normally don’t like elephants, and they’re not usually fond of primates either (humans notwithstanding) but this Blue Tick hound had no fear. Suryia jumped off the elephant and ran to the dog, and both acted like long lost friends!

Antle tried to find the dog’s owner, but had no luck. At first he put the pup in a fenced-in area to keep him away from the other animals, and Suryia went right to him, feeding him dog biscuits through a hole in the fence. After finding no owner, they adopted him as their own, naming the pup Roscoe. That was two years ago and they’ve been fast friends since.

Tales of interspecies friendship and love such as this one touch us deeply. Like the story of the wise old tortoise Mzee taking baby hippopotamus, Owen, under his wing – or shell as the case may be – after the tsunami in Kenya. Ethologist Gay Bradshaw, director of the Kerulos Center and author of Elephants on the Edge: What animals teach us about humanity, has studied and written about interspecies relationships. She says such "friendships" are more than mere anecdotes, and may be more common in the wild than we even know. Biologists have finally started to recognize that animals may have emotions, and can study the phenomenon scientifically.

"it is not surprising that two individuals who come from different backgrounds--in this case different species--can and do develop profound relationships with each other," says Bradshaw. "What other animals teach and show us is their tremendous capacity to see beyond the surface to the essence within. We would be well-served to learn this depth of acceptance and tolerance for other human and other animals."

The Myrtle Beach Safari operates an interactive conservation adventure where people can interact with and view tigers, primates, and other rare animals. The Rare Species Fund is T.I.G.E.R.S.’ nonprofit arm that funds conservation efforts around the world.