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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

This Sunday is Friendship Day and it seems like an apt moment to remind us that bonds can be forged between the unlikeliest of all beings. To celebrate the spirit of friendship, we bring you photographs shot by Reuters photographers around the world.

Brown bear (Ursus arctos) cub Medo plays with the Logar family dog in Podvrh village, central Slovenia 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.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

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

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

A turtle lies on top of an alligator's back at the Summit Zoo in Panama City August 10, 2012.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

A baby monkey, a lion cub and tiger cubs play at the Guaipo Manchurian Tiger Park in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, May 1, 2013. Picture taken May 1, 2013.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

A dog called "Shura" licks an orphaned roe deer it has befriended in the Simferopol zoo in Crimea June 2011. The deer was found close to its dead mother in a local forest.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

A female monkey fondly cuddles a puppy at a shop in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, May 9, 2002.

The pet monkey, bought from an animal trader, "adopted" the puppy recently and spends many happy hours hugging it.

Hunting and selling of monkeys are prohibited under Bangladesh laws but they are seldom enforced.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

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, January 6, 2005.

A 120-year old giant tortoise living in a Kenyan sanctuary has become inseparable from a baby hippo rescued by game wardens, sanctuary officials said on Thursday.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

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, June 2, 2009.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

A piglet sleeps on a tiger at Siracha zoo, 80 km (50 miles) east of the Thai capital Bangkok on 2, July 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.

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PHOTOS: 10 unusual friendships in the animal world

Last updated on: August 02, 2013 16:38 IST

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

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