Unlikely Friendships - Jennifer S. Holland [21]
{FLORIDA, U.S.A., 2010}
The Mouflon and the Eland
ELAND
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
FAMILY: bovidae
GENUS: Taurotragus
SPECIES:Taurotragus oryx
MOUFLON
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
FAMILY: bovidae
GENUS: Ovis
SPECIES: Ovisaries
Unless you’re up your ungulates, which most of us aren’t, you might not know exactly what a mouflon is. It sounds like a hairdo. And an eland? Anyone?
Turns out a mouflon is the smallest of the wild horned sheep. It hides away in steep mountainous woodlands in places like Iraq and Iran. The mammal was introduced to various Mediterranean islands and to continental Europe long ago, and more recently to ranches in the United States for hunting.
Then there’s the eland, an antelope that hoofs across Africa’s open plains. The plant-eater hangs out with sometimes hundreds of its buddies, though it doesn’t seem to establish close ties in the wild and often leaves one herd for another.
But when a male mouflon met a female eland more than fifteen years ago at the Lion Country Safari Park in Palm Beach County, Florida, a close tie was inevitable. It was the beginning of an ongoing boy-meets-girl love story, says the park’s wildlife director Terry Wolf, “that is, if you believe animals can love and not just lust!”
The mouflon is an old male that was a hoofed Casanova in his younger days, with many mates of his own kind. But living among the eland, what is a lonely male sheep to do?
“He follows this one female eland passionately!” Terry says. “When she stops to graze, he will gently paw at her rear leg with his front foot, as if trying to coax her to come down to his level. After all, he is quite a bit shorter than she.” Then, when she lies down, the sheep acts the gentleman, lying quietly next to her.
Only the one eland has grabbed the sheep’s attention; he never bothers with the other females. “People think that the affair is cute,” Terry says, “but obviously it will go nowhere.” And with the mouflon already beyond his expected lifespan of twenty years, he no longer keeps up with his girlfriend as he once did, making his advances even less effective.
The eland, for her part, can be aloof—standing around chewing her cud, back turned to her suitor—but she seems content enough to be admired. “I think the mouflon is just happy she tolerates him,” Terry says. “But most important to us, she keeps him mobile, which is why he’s still around.”
{OHIO, U.S.A., 2009}
The Nearsighted Deer and the Poodle
POODLE
one of the most popular
breeds in the U.S., the
poodle is considered to be
an exceptionally
intelligent, easy-to-train
dog. Originally bred as a
water dog, the poodle is
known for its dense,
curly coat.
WHITE-TAILED DEER
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
FAMILY: cervidae
GENUS: Odocoileus
SPECIES: Odocoileus
virginianus
Meet Dille, the coffee-drinking, bed-hogging, dog-loving “house deer” that has become an oversize member of veterinarian Melanie Butera’s menagerie in suburban Ohio.
When the farm-bred white-tailed deer came to the Elm Ridge Animal Hospital in Canal Fulton, Ohio, she was a very sick little animal, unable to eat or stand up on her bony legs. She was also virtually blind from a birth defect. Melanie ultimately decided to care for the deer at home, a household already heavily populated with a husband, two children, poodle Lady, cats Spaz and Neffie, and bird Screamie, not to mention a barnyard’s worth of animals outside.
With the exception of Screamie, who got a poor introduction to Dillie when the deer grabbed her by the tail feathers and tossed her, everyone in the house has grown to love Dillie. The cats approve of her warmth when they curl up next to her, and are happy to let the deer groom them from head to tail. But Lady is Dillie’s best friend. Says Melanie, “Lady was a great comfort to Dillie those first weeks, letting the scared little deer lie