7 animals that found love after they had given up all hope

2025-04-28 07:57:25admin

There comes a point in every young single frog's life where they give up on the idea of finding true love. Burned by endless Tinder dates and failed romances, some frogs just forego the idea of "frogmance" altogether.

They move into bachelor lily pads and Seamless entire fly dinners. They give up hope.

But bachelor frogs could stand to learn a thing or two from Romeo, a Sehuencas water frog dubbed "the world's loneliest frog," who recently found love after a prolonged period of isolation. Romeo was believed to be the last of his species until researchers found a Juliet in a Bolivian forest.

Since meeting his mate, the two have hooked up froggy style multiple times. And there are plenty of animals just like Romeo who had given up hope of finding love or a family only to be rewarded later in life.

SEE ALSO: Femme birds, butch owls, and lesbian frogs: Meet the queer animals of Instagram

These are their stories.

Jeremy the snail

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In 2016, Jeremy, a rare left-coiled snail, caught the world's attention after scientists from the University of Nottingham went public with his story. Jeremy's genitals were in the wrong place on his body, which made mating a challenge. Scientists put out a call for other left-coiled snails for Jeremy to mate with. By November 2016, the team had found two potential partners for Jeremy.

Unfortunately for Jeremy, his potential mates decided to partner with one another (most snails are hermaphrodites) and produced 170 right-coiled babies instead. By May of 2017, scientists had largely given up hope on Jeremy and decided to leave him "on the shelf."

In October of 2017, Jeremy finally produced offspring. Tragically, he died approximately one week later.

Tarra the elephant and Bella the dog

Ten years ago, CBS went to an animal sanctuary in Tennessee and revealed a friendship between Tarra, an elephant, and Bella, a stray dog.

Elephants are social animals who are capable of forming strong familial bonds. Normally, elephants at the sanctuary would form individual partnerships with one another. This time, however, Tarra the 8,700-pound elephant, decided to form a friendship with Bella the pup.

Together, Tarra and Bella would take walks, play with one another, and even nap at the same time. They nuzzled one another. When Bella fell ill, Tarra stood vigil outside the building where she was being treated.

Gladys the chicken and Snowy the cat

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In 2008, The Daily Mail told a sordid tale about Gladys, a chicken who was left deeply isolated after a fox killed most of her family, 13 chicks in total. Gladys was lonely and traumatized. It was unclear if Gladys would ever find family again.

Gladys' owners later brought her into the farmhouse so she could rebuild her strength and eat breadcrumbs. There, Gladys met Snowy, a friendly cat. The two reportedly quickly became friends.

Like Gladys, Snowy had a tough upbringing, having spent years on the streets before becoming domesticated. Perhaps they bonded over their mutual trauma? It's unclear. Either way, Gladys and Snowy reportedly loved to nuzzle up to one another, take walks together, and play.

Polyamorous gorillas

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Grief hurts. In 2008, three female gorillas at ZSL London Zoo were left alone after a male partner, a silverback gorilla, died.

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If you think the human dating scene is bad, consider the polyamorous gorilla dating scene. Gorillas don't have the advantage of anonymous primate dating apps. They need physical, in person meetings.

These three gorilla widows -- Zaire, 35, Effie, 17, and Mjukuu, 11 -- were overjoyed to meet a 12-year-old blackback Yeboah.

Yeboah quickly developed a favorite, Mjukuu, the youngest gorilla. But ultimately, Yeboah was a lady's gorilla. He wasn't afraid to go for the older "cougar" gorillas.

"Yeboah's a very charming gorilla and is having to quickly turn from a boy into man now he's met our more experienced female gorillas," Zookeeper Daniel Simmonds told The Telegraph in 2010.

Congratulations to the big, happy, and poly gorilla family.

Gay penguins steal baby

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In September of 2018, two gay penguins kidnapped a chick from a straight penguin couple at the Denmark Zoo. The penguins appears to have believed that the straight parent penguins were neglecting their child.

While the straight parents were out for a swim, the gay couple stole the chick from its habitat. Zookeepers were planning to let the gay penguin couple keep the chicks if the parents didn't return for it. But alas, the parents returned from their swim and confronted the gay parents about the missing baby. The same-sex couple returned their baby.

Zookeepers were so impressed by the gay couple's diligence that they decided to allow them to adopt a baby from a female penguin who was unable to properly care for her chick.

The penguin world is way more progressive when it comes to gay adoption than humans.

Ernie and Cammy the turtles

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The bachelor life is wonderful, but it gets boring after a while. Ernie was a turtle who spent nearly 12 years as a bachelor at the Manchester Sea Life Centre. Turtle bachelordom is great -- a non-stop party of eating, swimming, and pooping.

After a while, though, you need to mate. Ernie had it so bad that at the tender age of 12, he tried to have sex with a rock.

I'm not about to kink-shame Ernie. For some folks, rocks make great sexual partners. I'm just happy that the Manchester Sea Life Centre finally decided to partner him with Cammy, a teenage turtle from the Loch Lomond Sea Life Centre in Scotland.

The Manchester Sea Life Center decided to throw a wedding for the happy couple, complete with a broccoli wedding bouquet.

"It really seemed to be love at first sight for both turtles," Emma Whittle, a turtle keeper at the centre, told the press at the time.

"Clingy" little pig finds boyfriend

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Some of us just need a little more affection than others.

Consider Matilda, a pig who was given Tusk and Bristle Sanctuary in upstate New York after she was deemed too needy by her former owners. There, Matilda meta pig named Mr. T.

Like Matilda, Mr. T had a hard-knock life, raised to be killed for meat, until his he was rescued and sent to Tusk and Bristle Sanctuary.

It's possible that Mr. T and Matilda bonded by trauma. Who knows the source of their love? Only one thing was clear -- they were meant for one another.

"It was love at first sight," Terry Cummings, Director of the nearby Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary, who helped placed the two pigs, told The Dodo.

So to all the needy pigs, isolated snails, and rock-loving turtles: Don't give up hope. Some beautiful penguin or chicken is out there, just waiting to love you.

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