4.5 stars

The title says it all, doesn’t it? The book has a collection of 47 little real-life stories about different animals bonding, either for a short while or for years. Some events happened in the wild, some in rescue centers, a few in the zoos, and some underwater. 

We have Koko, a gorilla taught American Sign Language (ASL) by zookeepers. Listening to the stories about kittens made Koko crave a kitty of her own. Imagine a massive gorilla cradling and mothering a teeny kitty! 

The book also has a story about how a young leopard would visit a certain cow in a village in Gujarat every night. They would just sit together, and the cow would cuddle the leopard. After a while, the leopard stopped visiting the cow, but not once did it harm the animal or other cows in the village. 

The lion, tiger, and bear form an unlikely friendship. A rhino and goat become friends after setting the ground rules. A horse protects a newborn fawn as coyotes try to pry on it. A zebra adopts a gazelle in a zoo. A dog has a time of its life swimming with dolphins every day… so many stories where maternal instinct or the desire for companionship makes two different species bond with each other. 

Each story is short and to the point but full of emotions. The accompanying pictures are a perfect addition. I love that the author added basic information about the species for each story. This enhanced the book’s informative value as well. 

To summarize, Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom is a heartwarming collection of stories that shows us that emotions are not a human right and animals are precious gifts of nature.