Updated: Jan 04, 2019, 12:47 PM IST
Lions and leopards aren't exactly best of friends.
They often fight over food and territory often killing or severely
injuring each other.
So,
it was quite shocking for the forest officials to know that a lioness,
Raksha was nursing a 2-month-old leopard cub named as Mowgli, in Gir Forest. It is not clear how the lioness came across the cub or where the mother of the leopard baby is.
Usually,
if a lion or a lioness finds a leopard or leopard cubs, they instantly
kill them. But, for this lioness, motherly instinct seems to have
overtaken the killer instinct because she adopted the baby into her
clan.
After
observing the behaviour of the lioness, the foresters started sharing
pictures and videos of the lioness feeding and nurturing the cub.
Interestingly, the lioness is extra protective about the cub, Deputy Conservator of Forests Dheeraj Mittal said.
"Since
the leopard is smaller than her cubs, she ensures it walks ahead. She
stops and waits for it to come closer to her when moving around or if
they are near a water body," he added.
The lion family has also accepted the leopard baby, the lion cubs are quite fond of their younger brother. Foresters
said, "This arrangement is extremely unusual. So, we have decided to
observe the dynamics without intervening in any way."
https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/environment/motherly-instinct-trumps-killer-instinct-lioness-in-gir-forest-adopts-nurses-a-leopard-cub-359824.html
https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/environment/motherly-instinct-trumps-killer-instinct-lioness-in-gir-forest-adopts-nurses-a-leopard-cub-359824.html
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