A lioness has been spotted nursing a tiny leopard cub in Tanzania, the first time a wild cat is known to have adopted a cub from another species. The five-year old lioness, called Nosikitok is closely monitored by conservationists in the Ngorongoro conservation area and is known to have had a litter of her own in mid to late June.

How she came to adopt the leopard cub, thought to be three weeks old, is not known. But Luke Hunter, president of big cat conservation group Panthera, said her recent births are a critical factor: “She is physiologically primed to take care of baby cats, and the little leopard fits the bill – it is almost exactly the age of her own cubs and physically very similar to them.

“She would not be nursing the cub if she wasn’t already awash with a ferocious maternal drive. Even so, there has never been another case like it, and why it has occurred now is mystifying. This is a truly unique case. It is quite possible she has lost her own cubs, and found the leopard cub in her bereaved state when she would be particularly vulnerable.”(theguardian)…[+]