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Mar 1, 2013

"Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way." --John Muir

The Kindness of Beasts

"When I became a father for the first time, at the ripe old age of 44, various historical contingencies saw to it that my nascent son would be sharing his home with two senescent canines. There was Nina, an endearing though occasionally ferocious German shepherd/Malamute cross. And there was Tess, a wolf-dog mix who, though gentle, had some rather highly developed predatory instincts. So, I was a little concerned about how the co-sharing arrangements were going to work. As things turned out, I needn't have worried. During the year or so that their old lives overlapped with that of my son, I was alternately touched, shocked, amazed, and dumbfounded by the kindness and patience they exhibited towards him." Dogs rescue their friends and elephants care for injured kin -- humans have no monopoly on moral behaviour, Mark Rowland shares more.