Maternal instincts prompted her to take care of the baby
In the feline world, outsiders are competitors. They are ready to fight and destroy all young representatives of another species for food and territory. That’s why the story of a lioness taking care of a baby leopard amazed many people.
This strange behavior was captured in Tanzanian Ngorongoro Game Reserve. This lioness found a leopard cub left alone near her lair, so she decided to “adopt” it.
KopeLion – a conservation NGO in Tanzania – was closely watching the lioness. The leopard cub turned out to be about 3 weeks old.
This scene is really unbelievable. There were leopards that adopted members of their own species. But interspecies adoption is completely extraordinary.
“She is ready to take care of any feline, including leopards”, said Luke Hunter, the co-founder of the organization Panthera and chief conservation officer.
It also turned out, that the lioness had recently given birth, but none of her cubs were found. It’s possible, that her cubs didn’t survive, so she accepted the leopard to fill the emptiness of her heart.
The leopard was about the same age as her cubs would’ve been. They also look quite similar. Most probably, her maternal instincts prompted her to take care of the baby.
However, it’s still unlikely, that the cub will act like a lion as it grows up.
Nothing can erase the millions of instincts ingrained in the leopard to become a lone hunter. It was born to be a predator at the top of the food chain. Most probably, it will go its own way thanks to natural instincts.
