Can you say... speechless?

[deep rain]

YouTube - A Leopard's Compassion

 

[Mempy]

Awwww. Reminds me a little bit of Tarzan being found and raised by wolves. That baboon baby is so cute. I love its little squeak. If we're descended from something that cute, we can't be all bad.

Thanks for sharing! *melted heart*

 

[Tigerlily]

Great documentary. Heartwarming even.

Do you think had the baby baboon not died from the cold, that the leopard would have eaten her out of instinct (as mentioned in the comment section on you tube)?

 

[Mempy]

What?! Are you serious? The baby died? I truly thought it just stopped squeaking and fell asleep or something! Nooo!!! The outrage!

 

[deep rain]

I heard that the baby baboon died because the leopard isn't its natural mother. As a leopard, they have different ways of taking care of their young, and the baby baboon wasn't getting all the necessities it would've gotten from its baboon mother, even if the leopard did its best to take care of it. Which makes it even sadder in a way...

 

[Ivy]

Well, for one thing, it wasn't lactating.

But it was a sweet video.

 

[cafe]

It was sweet but so sad. When I heard the leopard was an adolescent, I was pretty sure she wasn't lactating so there was no way a newborn mammal was going to survive in her care no matter how much she tried.

 

[CzeCze]

I saw the show where the clip is from. I think the commentator does mention that had the leopard been more mature and socialized with other leopards, she probably would have killed the baby baboon. One could say that the leopard was confused than compassionate...?

If the baby baboon had not died, I'm not sure what the leopard would have done. My answer is that she would have continued to nurture the baboon. After that bonding takes place, I think the maternal instinct is stronger and will overtake the instinct to kill.

I have also seen documentary clips of dogs milking cats, a hen guarding a litter of kittens, and that short Oprah clip of a hippotamaus that attached itself to a tortoise for a parent.

 

[suzyk]

Ah, I watched this on TV a long time ago. It's always interesting to see a different species mother take care of a different species child. I'm surprised they managed to get such a rare miracle on tape. It does happen with even domestic animals sometimes, like dogs taking care of kittens if they don't have a child of their own.

 

[Alchemist]

That was a great watch. Too bad the baby monkey died. It reminds me of the time when, a few years ago, a boy fell into a gorilla pit at the zoo and one of the female gorillas protected him until they could get him out.

-A