ThirstyFish

This photograph was taken on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

When watching people with their pets, I often think that we seem to bond with our animal friends more easily than our human friends. There might be a good reason for that: In 1980, a team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania found that human to animal contact was found to reduce the physiological characteristics of stress; specifically, lowered levels of blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, anxiety, and tension were all found to correlate positively with human-pet bonding. *

Our human friends often add to our stress, but our best friends generally reduce stress.