The animal world seems to burst with sugar and spice these days. Evidence for cooperation and compassion among swimming, flying and walking creatures has captured public imagination. In the ocean, groupers, wrasse and eels form a multispecies team, working together to flush out and consume prey in bouts of collaborative hunting. In the sky, variegated fairy wrens and splendid fairy wrens recognize one another, form stable partnerships and jointly defend patches of eucalyptus scrubland. Among chickens, mother hens show empathetic distress when they see their chicks experience mild discomfort. Chimpanzees rush to console the loser of a fight, even when they themselves played no part in the altercation. And in an act of ultimate sacrifice, rats give up a chocolate reward to rescue companions made to tread water in a small pool.