Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Renew Now, Pay Later
Sharing Google Activities
2 min.
Setting Up Student View
Exploring Your Issue
Using Text to Speech
Join Our Facebook Group!
1 min.
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Science World magazine.
Article Options
Presentation View
Survival of the Friendliest
DAVID GRAY/REUTERS
FOSTER MOM: Pepper the German shepherd cares for three orphaned cubs (two tigers and one cougar) at the home of a vet in Sydney, Australia.
What helps a species survive? “Most people assume that in order to thrive, you’ve got to be big and mean,” says Vanessa Woods, an anthropologist at Duke University in North Carolina. But she and a colleague have a different theory. For many animals, fitness—the ability to survive and reproduce—comes down to friendship and cooperation. Dogs, for example, are successful because of their close bond with humans. The concept extends to people too. Being friendly toward those who are different from you is good for collaborating and exchanging different points of view, explains Woods. “Learn from dogs,” she says. “Wag more. Bark less.”
ZAKIR HOSSAIN CHOWDHURY/BARCROFT MEDIA VIA GETTY IMAGES (RHINO & SHEEP); AUSTRALIAN REPTILE PARK/COVER IMAGES/AP PHOTO (KOALA & WOMBAT); STR OLD/REUTERS (GOAT & MONKEY)
UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIPS: After Covid-19 closed an Australian zoo, this wombat and koala became inseparable (above). Raami the monkey loves to hitch a ride on his goat friend in Southern India (below). A rhino and a sheep keep each other company at a zoo in Bangladesh (right).