1. Chicks
In
China, a chihuahua named HuaHua has
adopted a chick. For
whatever reason, the dog began to take care of the bird almost immediately after
it was brought home. When the chick strays too far from it’s cot, HuaHua scoops
the bird up in her mouth and walks the chick back to safety. As you can see, the
chick looks delighted with this arrangement.
2. Ducks
Dogs and
birds are a pretty popular pairing. Young birds imprint on the first species
they interact with after birth, so in many cases the birds begin to believe that
the dog is their mother. Ben the Border Collie lets
ducklings snuggle up next to him and herds them to safety.
3. Squirrels
In
Seattle,
Mademoiselle Giselle, a pregnant dog, adopted Finnegan, a baby squirrel. Owner
Debby Cantlon rescued the injured squirrel and Giselle helped her nurse him back
to health, making the squirrel part of the litter and even letting him nurse
alongside his puppy siblings.
4. Pigs
A few
months back the Daily Dachshund blog wrote about Tink the wiener dog, who
has adopted Pink the piglet. Much brouhaha was had about the legitimacy of the
photos, but much like Charlotte’s Wilbur, Pink was a preemie piglet
and the story has indeed been verified. When Tink the dachshund had given birth
a few days earlier, she had only one puppy. Since she was already fostering
another dog’s puppies, Tink’s owner decided to try and see how well she would do
with a piglet. A few weeks later, Pink was successfully weaned and put up for adoption.
5. Deer
At
Knowsley Safari Park near Liverpool, UK, a rare baby Pere David deer,
Mi-Lu, was rejected by his mother since she did not want twins. Luckily, he was
adopted by the park dogs,
Geoffrey and Kipper. The three sleep and take daily walks together.
6. Tigers (?)
Not to be outdone, several zoos in
China allow dogs to nurse baby tigers
that have been rejected by their mothers. Dog urine is smeared on the baby
tigers’ fur to trick the nursing dog. Not to worry—baby tigers are born
toothless. This particular dog, Huani, doesn’t seem to mind nursing the tigers
at all, according to her handlers at the Jinan Paomaling Wild Animal World in
Shandong, China.
As for the famous tiger-nursing-piglets photos, they’re
more staged publicity stunt than actual instinct.
