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pair had been together a few days, and whenever the park staff tried to capture the kitten, it would just run back to the monkey,” Anne says. The macaque, a young male, would groom his feline friend, hug and nuzzle it, and even lay his head on the kitten’s head as if it were a pillow. Although this species of monkey is quite social—and often lives without fear in close contact with people—this one wanted to keep his pet kitty to himself. He became wary of all the primates around him, and if other macaques or people got too close, he would try to hide his prize—once even using a bit of leaf to cover it—or climb higher or move deeper into the forest with the kitten in his arms.

The kitten, meanwhile, had plenty of opportunities to escape the macaque’s clutches, “but it made no attempt whatsoever,” Anne says. It seemed content to be carried around in the bigger animal’s embrace.

Long-tailed macaques live in a strict social hierarchy in which males must prove themselves worthy of female attention, and this troop was no exception. The kitten-petting male was not an “alpha male,” or leader, among his own kind, and was probably not getting a lot of affection from the other macaques. And he certainly wasn’t getting much affection from humans, either, as macaques have become something of a nuisance in Ubud, where they wander into rice fields or villages outside of the Forest boundaries and wreak havoc on private property.

The kitten appeared to be traveling solo as well, and may also have been craving some attention and companionship. Fortunately for both unmated primate and homeless feline, they found what they needed in each other among the temple ruins in Ubud.

THE UBUD SACRED MONKEY FOREST

A popular tourist attraction in bali, the Sacred Monkey Forest contains at least 115 different species of trees that provide home and shelter to over 300 macaques.

{MONTANA, U.S.A., 2006}

The Mare and the Fawn

WHITE-TAILED DEER

KINGDOM: Animalia

PHYLUM: Chordata

CLASS: Mammalia

ORDER: Artiodactyla

FAMILY: Cervidae

GENUS: Odocoileus

SPECIES: Odocoileus virginianus

MORGAN QUARTER HORSE

KINGDOM: Animalia

PHYLUM: Chordata

CLASS: Mammalia

ORDER: Perissodactyla

FAMILY: Equidae

GENUS: Equus

SPECIES: Equus ferus caballus

Bonnie, a morgan quarter horse, was just ten months old when she first came to live with the Muth family on their farm in Montana. She was adored by all, but especially by twelve-year-old Denise, an animal lover who immediately befriended Bonnie and spent six happy years closely bonded to the animal.

On a snowy morning after she’d turned eighteen, Denise was killed in a tragic car accident, leaving her parents heartbroken. Bob Muth says that as Denise’s best friend and a beloved family member, Bonnie became the living link to their daughter.

As the horse grew older, her already gentle temperament mellowed into something even sweeter. “She was the most affectionate horse I’d ever known,” Bob says. “She would have come into our house if she could have found a way to negotiate the front steps.”

So perhaps her actions one spring day, while extraordinary, aren’t all that surprising.

Coyotes had set up a den at the edge of a field on the Muth farm, and that year the mated pair raised a single pup. An abundant supply of ground squirrels kept the animals well fed through the season. During the first week of June, Bob happened to be looking out the kitchen window and noticed a white-tailed deer giving birth in the barnyard.

The coyotes also noticed. And it quickly became clear that they were intent on getting the fawn away from its mother. “One coyote tried to distract the doe and get it to chase her while her pup was circling around from behind,” wrote Bob after the incident. “I ran out to ‘interfere’ with nature,” but before he could do anything, Bonnie stepped in. Bob watched in awe as the horse got between the coyotes and the fawn, then positioned herself over the fawn to protect it. And to his relief, with Bonnie towering over the tiny animal, the coyotes gave up and moved on.