“Unique and touching moment”: a lioness nursing a baby leopard
Photographers managed to capture the case when a representative of one species of cat caring for others: the lioness in the reserve in Tanzania began to take care of the baby leopard.
Five lioness — Nesecito and the little leopard was noticed by the visitor of the Ngorongoro conservation area in Tanzania. While Nesecito already raising the three kittens of the same age as the little leopard that she found (all of them two to three weeks).
This “truly unique phenomenon,” said Dr. Luke hunter of Panthera animal protection organization that monitors the life of wild cats. “I’ve never seen anything like this between the two big cats. We know cases when the lions take custody of the cubs of other lions… But this case is unprecedented,” he says.
As a rule, adult lion cub sees another cat as a future rival, so in a hurry to deal with it.
A lioness wearing a collar with a GPS sensor, found a little leopard in kilometer from his own lair. As noticed by experts for the lions, the role played by the fact that the female at that time raged maternal hormones she was motivated by a desire to take care of the baby, because of a lioness — a great defender.
The staff of the reserve it is known that in the area inhabited by a female leopard — most likely with the cubs. Experts believe that for a small leopard, trapped by the lion, the safest is to return to his mother.