Stray dog adopts cubs at zoo in Hefei, China
A PLUCKY stray dog has saved the lives of a tiger cub and lion triplets who were abandoned by their mothers at a Chinese zoo.
The mongrel (dog) became the endangered cats' surrogate mum last month after their first-time mothers rejected the cubs because they did not know how to breast feed them.
Although the cubs, born at Hefei Zoo in China’s eastern Anhui province, were initially reluctant to take on the caring canine as their new mum, the "adoption" eventually proved successful.
Zoo staff said the dog, who is yet to be named, licks, cleans, and feeds the cubs as if they are her own.
The timing couldn't have been any better with staff at the zoo finding the dog soon after she had weaned her own pups.
She is expected to nurse the tiger and lions for about a month, or until their appetites outpace her milk supply.
It is common for Chinese zoos to use dogs as surrogate mothers for rejected cubs.
Zoo staff put dog urine on the fur of rejected cubs to make the surrogate think she is nursing her own pups.
Zoos will try to match an abandoned animal with a mother of the same species wherever possible but dogs are considered the next best option.
It's preferable for abandoned animals to imprint - the process by which an animal learns the characteristics of its parents - on a four-legged animal rather than a human.
