Animals: Opposites attract or unlikely friendships?

A baby rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) touches the face of a tiger cub as they play together at a zoo in Hefei, Anhui province on Aug 2, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Changmao, the ram and Chunzi, the doe stand together during a cross-species wedding ceremony at Yunnan Wild Animal Park on Valentine's Day in Kunming, Yunnan province on Feb 14, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A dog feeds a Siberian tiger cub inside a box at a zoo in Qingdao, Shandong province on Sept 19, 2011. The dog acted as a wet nurse to three Siberian tiger cubs born on Sept 18 as their mother is unable to feed them, according the zoo officials. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A brown bear (Ursus arctos) cub Medo plays with the Logar family dog in Podvrh village, central Slovenia on June 1, 2011. The Slovenian Logar family has adopted the three-and-half-month-old bear cub that strolled into their yard about 30 days ago. Although the family would like to prepare a fenced enclosure for it, veterinary authorities would prefer to move it into a shelter for wild animals.  -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A seven-month-old yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) carries a Galagos also known as a bushbaby at the Animal Orphanage in the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) headquarters in Nairobi on June 10, 2011. Defying nature, the Yellow Baboon, rescued in Maralal (northern Kenya) has quickly adopted the Galagos, rescued in Nyeri (central Kenya), after meeting at the orphanage, giving it affection and protection as if it were her own offspring. Yellow baboons inhabits savannas and light forests in the eastern Africa while Galagos are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A seven-month-old yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) carries a Galagos also known as a bushbaby at the Animal Orphanage in the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) headquarters in Nairobi on June 10, 2011. Defying nature, the Yellow Baboon, rescued in Maralal (northern Kenya) has quickly adopted the Galagos, rescued in Nyeri (central Kenya), after meeting at the orphanage, giving it affection and protection as if it were her own offspring. Yellow baboons inhabits savannas and light forests in the eastern Africa while Galagos are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A mouse rides on the back of a frog in floodwaters in the northern Indian city Lucknow on June 30, 2006. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A one year-old baby Hippotamus, Owen, gets close to his adopted 'mother', a giant male Aldabran tortoise at Haller Park on Kenya's coast of Mombasa on Jan 6, 2005. The 120-year old giant tortoise living in a kenyan sanctuary has become inseparable from the baby hippo rescued by game wardens, sanctuary officials said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Rabbits play with tiger cubs at a theme park in Sanya, in south China's Hainan province on Nov 6, 2006. The artificially bred tiger cubs get along well with rabbits, which generates tremendous interest among visitors, China Daily reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta) and a parrot (Gebirgslori) are seen in their enclosure at the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg on April 3, 2008. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A four-month-old Amur tiger cub (top) plays with a dog in the municipal zoo 'Royev Ruchey' in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, on Sept 2, 2005. The dog, which has a puppy of its own, nursed the tiger cub and another Sumatran tiger cub after the mothers refused to nurse them. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A piglet sleeps on a tiger at Siracha zoo, 80km east of the Thai capital Bangkok on July 2, 2004. The zoo is trying to boost visitor numbers by teaching domestic animals such as pigs, and wild animals such as tigers, to live together in harmony from an early age. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

In this Nov 10, 1998 photo, Jabulani a two-year-old elephant, has found a most unlikely maternal figure "Skaap" a female sheep. Jabulani was abandoned by his biological mother in the wild and his has been with Skaap - Afrikaans for sheep - since the day they met. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A female monkey fondly cuddles a puppy at a shop in the Bangladeshicapital Dhaka on May 9, 2002. The pet monkey, bought from an animal trader, "adopted" the puppy recently and spends many happy hourshugging it. Hunting and selling of monkeys are prohibited under Bangladesh law but they are seldom enforced. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A monkey does a handstand on the head of a sheep during a performance at a temple fair held to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year in Beijing ON Feb 13, 2010. The Chinese New Year begins on Feb 14 and according to the Lunar calendar will be the Year of the Tiger. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Three-month-old Asian camel Ldinka bends over a fence to nuzzle against an adult Vietnamese miniature pig at Royev Ruchey Zoo in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on June 2, 2009. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A brown bear carries a dog during a show in a circus in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on Nov 22, 2009.  -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A donkey, carrying a lamb in its saddle-bag, is led by nomads as they head back to their village from summer pastures near the town of Cizre, south-east Turkey ON October 16, 2007. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A monkey sleeps next to a dog at Lacor camp for internally displaced persons in northern Uganda on June 8, 2007. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Morphy, a 45-day-old dog, and Cathey, a 30-day-old cat, play at a veterinary hospital as they wait to be vaccinated in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on July 6, 2007. July 6 is celebrated as "World Zoonosis Day" the world over to bring awareness about the disease. "Zoonosis" is any infectious disease that is transmitted from animals to humans. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A dog feeds a piglet in Shenyang, north-east China's Liaoning province on June 29, 2007. The piglet had been fed by the dog for some 40 days since its mother died soon after giving birth. The dog started feeding the piglet after encouragement by the farmer who placed the piglet with the dog in the doghouse, local media reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A wolf and a donkey share a cage in the north-western town of Patok in Albania, about 40km from the capital Tirana on May 9, 2007. The donkey was brought into the enclosure to be fed to the wolf, which had been caught in the northern Albanian mountains four months earlier. The animals have since become attached to each other, co-habitating in the cage for the last 10 days, and attracting curious villagers and local media. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A monkey helps a parrot get rid of lice at a wild animal park in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province, in this picture taken on April 23, 2005. The character on the monkey's hat reads "Buddha". -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A black swan feeds carp at a wildlife park in Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong province on April 7, 2007. -- PHOTO: REUTERS