A woodpigeon squab or squeaker — picked up on a by-road by a passing schoolboy cyclist, who carried it home and cared for it — adopted the boy as its surrogate parent. The human became imprinted on the bird’s memory as its provider.

The boy made a space for it under an oil tank, feeding it and, as it thrived, it would watch for his arrival, tentatively flapping its wings to beg for food.

The bird grew and moved to higher places and would wait on overhanging tree branches for the boy’s arrival. It eventually joined other pigeons but every day went along the school road to meet the boy as he cycled home with his companions and would try to alight on his head and shoulders.

Many other examples of human/bird/animal and interspecies bonding have been recorded by naturalists such as WH Hudson.

I once had a cat which thought it was a dog. Here’s what happened.

When a spaniel’s pups were weaned and dispersed propitiously, a kitten arrived to the household and into the heart of the spaniel, which began grooming it as if it were a lost puppy.

The tiny animal found comfort, the dog a new-found adopted offspring.

As the kitten grew it began to follow the dog on garden and field forays, inevitably getting lost in grassy places — its piteous cries to be rescued pinpointing its location.

 

A puppy in India was adopted by a circus monkey which would not let it go, carrying it about in a careful embrace.

A llama in Antwerp showed no interest in its own kind but tried to strike up a friendship with a pony and donkey.

Hudson wrote of a trout in a pool that rose to greet a swan as it passed overhead while another fish, a carp, came to a pond’s edge when a particular golden retriever passed by and would nibble at the dog’s paws.

A kitten at a US rescue centre went into the cage of an orphan bear seeking food and was rewarded by the bear pushing a piece of meat towards it. The pair bonded and ate and slumbered together, the cat showing little interest in human company.

Another dog/fish incident involved an angler hooking a trout at a pool with much activity and being attacked by a dog which regularly passed by to watch the fish which swam to it.

Recently there were images of the newest madra in the household of Uachtarán na hÉireann in the Phoenix Park, a Bernese mountain dog named Misneach, greeting a new friend in a Connemara foal named Aimhirgin. 

Aimhirgin was named after a mythical Milesian warrior poet who uttered a song as he set foot on Erin’s shores: “I am the wind on the sea… I am the wave, eagle of the rock, salmon in the water, flash from the sun… who can tell the ages of the moon, the place where the sun rests…”

A writer on animal behaviour, Marc Bekoff, sources scientific support for stories that show animals experience deep emotions, from glee when playing, to grief and depression over loss.

Shared emotion and empathy are the social glue of bonds even between members of different species, he says.

May the bond between Misneach and his new pal thrive and bring pleasure to those who may witness their camaraderie.