Beastly Romances: Famous Human-Animal Couples (Images)

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Opposites attract

(Image credit: Virgin Music)

In music videos, pop stars frequently cavort with love interests played by models or actors. But singer Paula Abdul opted for a different approach in her video for the song "Opposites Attract," released in 1989 — her co-star is a rapping cartoon character named MC Skat Kat. Abdul and Skat Kat flirt their way through the video as they sing about all their differences, finally admitting that "when we get together it just all works out."

Ever a surprise

(Image credit: Walt Disney Pictures)

The 1991 Disney animated musical "Beauty and the Beast" introduced new details into the well-known story of the well-read girl who teaches a selfish monster how to care for someone other than himself — and comes to love him, in spite of his beastly appearance. After Beauty volunteers to stay with Beast, a houseful of transfigured servants enthusiastically lend their various talents to bring the couple closer together, in order to break the spell that binds them to their non-human forms.

Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?

(Image credit: DC Comics)

What if characters from fairy tales and folklore were real — and living among us? The comics series "Fables" (DC Comics 2002 to 2015) introduced Snow White as the deputy mayor of Fabletown, the community of "fables" in New York City, and the Big Bad Wolf, now known as Bigby, who serves as Fabletown's sheriff. Bigby, son of a wolf and the North Wind, generally appears as human, but can transform into a giant wolf. He and Snow are drawn to each other and become a couple — and parents. Their children were born as a litter of seven, and Snow affectionately refers to them as "the cubs."

A couple for the apocalypse

(Image credit: DC Comics)

The foul-mouthed, unpredictable army-deserter outlaw Tank Girl wreaks havoc across a post-apocalyptic landscape in Australia with her partner in crime and sometime sex partner Booga, a mutated kangaroo, in the comics series "Tank Girl." The British comic debuted in 1988, was adapted into a film in 1995 — starring Lori Petty as the obnoxiously endearing title character and Jeff Kober as Booga — and the latest comics series, "Tank Girl Gold," will be published on June 13 as a trade paperback.  

Mindy Weisberger
Mindy Weisberger
Live Science Contributor

Mindy Weisberger is a science journalist and author of "Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control" (Hopkins Press). She formerly edited for Scholastic and was a channel editor and senior writer for Live Science. She has reported on general science, covering climate change, paleontology, biology and space. Mindy studied film at Columbia University; prior to LS, she produced, wrote and directed media for the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Her videos about dinosaurs, astrophysics, biodiversity and evolution appear in museums and science centers worldwide, earning awards such as the CINE Golden Eagle and the Communicator Award of Excellence. Her writing has also appeared in Scientific American, The Washington Post, How It Works Magazine and CNN.