One day, they will grow to be 9 feet tall with the ability to devour an average dog by barely chewing it… so it’s both odd and adorable that a dog would want to help keep a liger alive. But, that’s the current situation!
After four baby ligers at the Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo in eastern China were abandoned by their tiger mother, two subs died of weakness, and the living two had no food to survive. According to Cong Wen, the zoo official, his staff found a dog that had recently given birth with hopes that it could feed the rare cats. It took a little bit before the baby ligers could were used to it, but now they’re downing it well and are likely to grow up and be healthy.
Why all the fuss? Ligers are a rare breed, they‘re a hybrid cross between a female tiger and a male lion (not visa-versa, because then you get a tiglon). The habitats of female tigers and male lions don’t really overlap in the wild, also making them unable to procreate. They’re usually bread by accident in zoos.
Ligers are also the largest cat ever to walk the earth, and their mouths are so big that they could bite off two human heads in one chomp. Because they’re such a large species, they’ll likely outgrow their canine mommy very fast. But it’s still adorable that this little black dog was able to step in and help out!