Lioness Momma Adopts Sick Baby Leopard And Raises As Her Own

Lions and leopards at the Gir National Park don’t usually get on. “They compete with each other” for space and food, said Stotra Chakrabarti, a researcher who studies animal behaviour. “They are at perpetual odds.” And until recently, this statement wouldn’t have been questioned. But one particular lion, against all odds, broke the barrier when she adopted a baby leopard.

Chakrabarti suspects the leopard may have been less welcome if there were more adult lions around, but Asiatic lionesses often separate from the rest of the pride for a few months to raise their offspring, meaning the unlikely pair could bond undisturbed. Sadly, their relationship was cut short when the research team found the leopard cub's body near a watering hole, about 45 days after the lioness took him in. A field necropsy revealed he had most likely died because of a femoral hernia he had since birth. Chakrabarti commented on the disappointing turn of events, saying: It would have been fantastic to see, when the leopard cub grew up, how things would be. But it didn't happen.