11. Lion Tamarin Monkey & Baby Emperor Tamarin
A lion tamarin monkey at the London Zoo is so known for her strong motherly instincts that zookeepers dubbed her Maternal Juanita. And in the summer of 2010, Juanita found a way to make her dreams come true: She adopted a monkey of another species – a baby emperor tamarin. The surrogate mom began carrying her adopted baby around on her back. The publication LiveScience noted how the emperor tamarin’s grey body and white moustache stand out against its ‘mother’s’ fiery orange mane.
12. Dog & Baby Elk
The young elk pictured here was rescued from a flooding river by a farmer in South Korea in July 2009. This female dog eagerly adopted the elk and began breastfeeding and guarding him.
13. Cat & Squirrel
Tita, a cat who belongs to Ruben Gaviria, breastfeeds a squirrel as her kitten plays with it at Gaviria’s house near Medellin, Colombia. Gaviria rescued the squirrel after it was found injured in a park in February 2010.
14. Dog & Pot-Bellied Piglet
Katjinga, a Rhodesian ridgeback dog who lives on a 20-acre farm in Germany, adopted an abandoned pot-bellied piglet in August 2009. The tiny black piglet, named Paulinchen, had been so small at birth that her mother likely overlooked it. Katjinga’s owner, Roland Adam, found the piglet alone and cold and brought it to his 8-year-old dog. ‘She loved the piglet at first sight and cares about it in the way she did for her own puppies,’ Adam said. ‘Days later she started lactating again and giving milk for the piggy. She obviously regards it now as her own baby.’
15. Macaque Monkey & Kitten
Many male animals have strong parental impulses, too. Take, for instance, this wild long-tailed macaque monkey in Bali, Indonesia. He stunned animal lovers around the world when he adopted an abandoned kitten and cared for it as his own. The monkey was spotted in a forest protectively nuzzling and grooming the ginger kitten, making sure no harm came to it. The extraordinary sight was captured by amateur photographer Anne Young while on a holiday to the Monkey Forest Park in Bali’s Ubud region.
