From gorillas adopting kittens to hippos taking care of turtles, here are 11 animals who adopted
other animals!
11.
Gorilla and Kittens
You might be familiar with Koko the Gorilla because of her famous friendship with actor
and comedian Robin Williams.
She’s well known for her role in language research and is the subject of many children’s
books.
Koko is able to communicate through sign language using over 1,000 words and can understand
around 2,000 spoken words.
She was born in 1971 and has been working with animal psychologist Penny Patterson since
she was very young.
She surprised everyone when she used her language skills to ask for something surprising: a
kitten!
Her caretakers, thinking she wouldn’t know the difference, gave her a stuffed kitten.
Gorillas are incredibly strong animals and they were worried that Koko would hurt a kitten
by accident.
However, she did know the difference and signed the word “sad” when they tried to give
her the stuffed animal.
Like, you know what I’m saying but you are ignoring me!
They decided to give it a try and Patterson brought her to a kitten and carefully supervised
the interactions.
Koko named the kitty “All Ball”.
To everyone’s surprise, she showed extreme care when playing with All Ball.
She was gentle, loving, and patient.
She also tried to use All Ball as a convenient scapegoat.
When Koko ripped a sink from the wall, she tried to blame it on the cat!
The story about a gorilla asking for a pet kitten broke the news all over the world.
One day, though, All Ball escaped Koko’s enclosure and was hit by a car.
Her caretakers were forced to break the news and Koko signed “bad”, “cry”, “sad”,
and “frown” over and over.
Gorillas can’t cry like humans and this was the only way she could express her grief.
Over the years, Koko has had several pet cats and continues to raise awareness to save gorillas.
To learn more and support The Gorilla Foundation, check out www.koko.org.
10.
Cat and a Squirrel
Cats who have recently given birth are known for their strong mothering instinct.
That can turn even the most fearsome hunter into a loving parent.
Shortly after giving birth to a litter, Emmy the cat found a baby squirrel in her owner’s
yard, or her yard, depending on how you want to look at it.
Squirrels are usually prey to cats and don’t stand much of a chance.
However, perhaps due to a mix of hormones and the baby squirrel’s noises of distress,
Emmy decided to adopt the squirrel rather than eat it.
Maybe she was just a very nice cat!
Emmy’s owner could no longer take care of her and her children.
They were passed on to new owners and the strange addition was named “Rocky”.
Rocky became so integrated into his new family that he even learned how to purr just like
a cat.
9.
The Fox and the Hound
The Disney version of The Fox and the Hound is one of the saddest movies I’ve ever seen,
I couldn’t even watch it as a kid because just thinking about it made me start crying.
The good news is that there is a real life version of this story that has a much better
ending!
A Norwegian photographer named Torgeir Berge owns a German Shepherd named Tinni.
One day, the pair were walking through the woods near Berge’s home when they found
an orphaned baby fox.
Berge allowed Tinny to play with the fox, who Berge named Sniffer.
The pair spent the entire day together.
When it came time to go, Berge didn’t try to take the fox with him but left him to fend
for itself.
The fox was old enough to survive on its own and Berge didn’t know hot to take care of
a wild fox.
Which just as a side not, you shouldn’t take wild animals home with you either...
The friendship born on that day remained and when Berge would take Tinni out for walks,
Sniffer the fox would come and they would spend hours playing together.
Berge took beautiful photos of the friendship in order to raise awareness and denounce the
killing of foxes for their fur.
8.
Pig and a Lamb
Rescued from a factory farm, Edgar Allen Pig lived on a farm sanctuary in Australia.
In fact, he’s the namesake of the sanctuary, which is called Edgar’s Mission.
The owner of Edgar’s Mission taught Edgar how to walk on a leash so that he could better
serve as an ambassador and draw attention to the inhumane treatment of farm animals.
Not many people had seen a pig walking on a leash in Australia!
It wasn’t long after his arrival that Edgar showed a talent one wouldn’t assign to a
pig: he made an excellent foster father.
One of his favorite so-called children was a little lamb named Arnie who was brought
to the farm at only one week old.
The pair became inseparable and Arnie would help Edgar welcome all the new orphaned animals
to the farm.
Unfortunately, Edgar passed away in 2010 but his legacy continues!
7.
Dog and a Kangaroo
Kangaroos are very common in Australia.
Therefore, seeing one dead on the side of the road isn’t that strange of a sight,
sadly.
One day, Leonie Allan, while walking her dog named Rex, noticed one such casualty on the
side of the road and walked around what she thought was a dead kangaroo.
Once they got home, Allan took Rex off the leash.
Right away, Rex took off, only to return later carrying a small, four-month-old baby kangaroo.
He dropped the little joey at Allan’s feet.
Turns out, the kangaroo on the roadside had a baby in the pouch.
Rex must have smelled or heard the baby and returned to retrieve it.
Soon after, the pair began playing and cuddling together.
Allen took the joey to a wildlife sanctuary, where it will be hand-reared and then released
into the wild.
Once again, dogs to the rescue!
6.
Cat and Bunny
When a cobra killed the mother of a baby rabbit, it didn’t promise a happy ending for the
little bunny.
Luckily, a cat named Snaggle Puss, (yes that’s her real name) stepped in to fill the gap.
Having recently given birth to a kitten of her own, Snaggle Puss had both milk and nurturing
instinct to spare.
Snaggle Puss quickly adopted the baby as one of her own kittens.
Definitely a happy ending!
The baby bunny was named Bubbles.
5.
Cow and Lambs
Apparently, it’s not that weird for cows to adopt lambs.
At least, not in New Zealand.
In New Zealand, an ewe rejected her twin lambs.
The owners of the farm introduced the babies to a cow named Little Brown, who happily adopted
the pair.
She feeds them, licks them, and barely lets them out of her sight.
In another case in the same country, a farmer found a newborn lamb who was also rejected
by its mother.
The farmer was fully prepared to hand-feed the newborn.
However, before he got a chance, the lamb walked right up to a cow named Ruth, who also
adopted him.
According to the farmer, cows usually brush off lambs or other animals who try to do this.
In this case, Ruth was a day away from calving and had an udder full of milk.
The farmer said it was a case of impeccable timing.
Ruth continued to mother the lamb even after giving birth to her own calf.
4.
Chicken and Puppies
This sounds almost like a children’s book.
A couple named Edward and Rose Tate rescued a chicken named Mabel and brought her home
to their farm.
Chickens are known for their roosting but they usually sit on eggs, not a litter of
Rottweiler puppies!
When Mabel the chicken hurt her foot, the Tates brought her inside their home, where
their dog Nettle was nursing her new litter.
As soon as Nettle finished feeding her pups and walked away for a break, Mabel hopped
into the basket with the puppies and settled on top of them just as if they were eggs and
kept them all snug and warm.
This wasn’t an isolated incident.
Whenever Nettle would get up to go do her farm dog duties, Mabel the chicken would step
up as babysitter.
3.
Hippo and Tortoise
The earthquake and tsunami in 2004 was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded
history.
Not only did many people lose their lives, but one of the consequences was also that
many animals were abandoned, stranded or displaced.
One story is about a young hippo who was found on a coral reef near Kenya.
Conservationists rescued the hippo and brought the orphan to a sanctuary.
Unfortunately, the other hippos rejected the little one, who was named Owen.
This wasn’t that unusual.
Hippos are very territorial and outside males, like Owen, are often perceived as threats.
Caretakers knew that if Owen stayed with the hostile hippos, he could be severely injured
or killed.
This was particularly devastating because, despite their territorialism, hippos are very
social creatures.
Owen needed a family.
With no other options, they decided to put him with a 130-year-old tortoise named Mzee
of all creatures!
Tortoises are normally loners.
However, Mzee had no problem sharing his enclosure with Owen.
In fact, they became fast friends and spent hours snuggling together.
They stayed together for awhile until Owen started getting big.
As he grew larger and larger, so did the concern that he would accidently crush Mzee.
Staff of the sanctuary rehoused Owen with a female hippo named Cleo and gave Mzee a
new friend named Toto, who is also a tortoise.
2.
Elephant and a Sheep
Here’s another odd pairing you would never imagine.
Finding orphaned baby elephants is just one of the heartbreaking consequences of poaching.
In 2008, a South African wildlife reserve found a baby elephant they named “Themba”,
which means “trust and hope”.
Themba, like all elephants, was very emotionally demanding.
The staff tried to find a female elephant to adopt Themba and give him the love and
nurturing he needed.
However, he was continually rejected by older female elephants.
Conservationists believe that a drought at the time made the elephants reluctant to take
in one more mouth to feed.
The reserve, though, was not ready to give up on Themba.
However, the baby soon became depressed and refused to eat.
At a loss as to what to do, they introduced him to a sheep named Albert.
At first, it didn’t look like it was going to work out.
But, gradually, the pair became friends.
Themba grew happier and started eating again.
All it takes is a good friend!
Animals can get extremely lonely too!
1.
Lion, Tiger, and Bear – Oh my!
At Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Locust Grove, Georgia, an extraordinary friendship
unfolded between a lion, a tiger, and a bear.
Wonderful!
Baloo the bear, Leo the lion and Shere Khan the tiger formed a trio affectionately referred
to as The BLT.
The sanctuary had rescued the three as cubs from horrid conditions during a drug bust.
The unlikely trio of male predators were rescued from a drug dealer’s house in Atlanta, GA
in 2001.
The neglectful owner kept them in dirty and cramped areas, they were injured and frightened
and infected with parasites.
Baloo the bear was strapped into a harness that was never changed as he grew, so it was
embedded into his flesh and had to be surgically removed.
Leo had been neutered at too young of an age and his mane never grew in.
During their time of neglect, the three relied on each other for emotional support and their
bond did not change after their rescue.
At first, the staff at Noah’s Ark kept them in separate quarters.
This is understandable, as lions, tigers, and bears do not live together in the wild.
Rescuers assumed the three would fight and injure each other now that they were outside
of the stressful situation.
However, the three caused problems and were emotionally distressed until they were reunited.
Their friendship continued into adulthood until 2016, when Leo passed away.
Baloo and Shere Khan, though, remain together.
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