Seeing interspecies animal relationships is always an interesting and fun sight to see.
Here’s a compilation of 10 weird animal relationships to make your heart feel warm and fuzzy.
Cats and Ducklings
A mother cat, moments after giving birth to her own litter of kittens, came across a couple of ducklings on the family property. As she had just given birth, instead of her usual instinct of eating the ducklings, the mother cat turned into somewhat of an adopted mother. She cared and nurtured the ducklings, with them even drinking her milk. It was a lucky fate for this group of ducklings.
Jaguar and Jack Russell
Having spent their younger years in the same enclosure, as this big cat and small dog grew up they refused to separate from one another, even when staff attempted to move the jaguar to a larger enclosure. This pair sleep, eat and play together, spending all their time together in their shared enclosure.
Huskies and Polar Bears
In Canada, people witnessed a group of polar bears and huskies playing together on the ice. The huskies were tethered at their home base and the wild polar bears were waiting for the winter ice to return to the coast line. The polar bears decided not to eat the huskies and instead the group of animals were caught playing together on the ice.
Rhino and Sheep
To help an orphaned rhino calf learn to graze and to help them survive, this calf was put together with a sheep. The rhino learnt to graze through the sheep, also allowing it to de-stress as the rhino calves don’t do well when left alone.
Lion and Oryx
In Kenya, a lioness spotted a new born oryx in the wild and started to care and nurture for it. Thought to be because of a trauma in the lioness’ past, she was seen to continue to care after five other oryxes. Unfortunately, all of them met untimely fates, as it is difficult for a lioness to care for an oryx in the wild.
Dog and Orangutan
Dogs have been pets for humans for years, and now this group of orangutans seem to also be treating ‘Rosco’ the dog as a pet. The animals have all known each other for over seven years and play, care and sleep together. When they first met, Rosco was a stray and the group of orangutans fed him monkey biscuits and cared for him when Rosco followed them to the enclosure. Now Rosco has become something of a pet to this group of orangutans. The bond between them is adorable!
Antelope and Giraffe
In a safari park, a male antelope has been caught jumping the fence between the reserve to seek out a female giraffe named Camila. These two started to see and hang out with each other as infants and this relation continued into their adulthood. It has apparently even gone so far as the male antelope being caught trying to mate with the giraffe.
Bear, Tiger and Lion
An American black bear has spent his entire life in the same enclosure as a tiger and a lion. These three are all around 12 years old and enjoy playing and sleeping together in a wildlife sanctuary in Atlanta. The level of power goes from the bear, to the lion and finally to the tiger who enjoys testing the waters on a daily basis.
Bulldog and Lion Cub
In South Africa, these two animals were raised in the safari park and love to play around with each other. As they were raised together, the two formed a very close bond, just wanting to play all day long. This is a seemingly common thread between all of these animal relations: the idea of play and being vulnerable with each other despite being of different species.
Capybara and Puppies
In a wildlife refuge in the US, this special capybara has ‘mothered’ several litters of puppies. She sleeps, eats, plays and grooms with them and has acted as an adopted mother for at least four litters of puppies. Capybaras in the wild sometimes help mother other’s young, so here it is assumed that the mothering instinct must have kicked in despite this specific Capybara not ever having her own children.
All information in this article is from Real Wild – if you want more quirky animal pairs, check out their video below!
