I received an email from my good friend today accompanied by a couple of photos. At that moment my heart squished with sweetness no cat crushing could ever achieve today, day 6 of NO EATING DUE TO RELENTLESS NAUSEA. So I pass it on to you. I take the write-up with a grain of salt as you just never can trust The Internet entirely. But the photos are weep worthy.
***UPDATE***an astute reader passed this link to me that may just explain what these photos represent. See for yourself.
"In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth. The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve. After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment.
Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only "orphans" that could be found quickly, were a litter of wiener pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger."
Take a look...
22 comments:
Wow, I can see this going really wrong and the mommy tiger having pigs in a blanket for lunch. But it looks like it's just what she needed and everyone looks happy. Even though you didn't crush Yoshi's head, it looks like the piggies are trying to crush the tiger, so I think that's close enough. Have a great weekend!
I say she eats them.
and i'm thinking Yoshi is going to be sporting a striped costume next time out??
Great surrogate head crushing. Those pics are crazy.
Hope you feel better soon!
That is RIDICULOUSLY cute.
And, yeah, I vote for a follow up in another couple weeks when mama tiger realizes her new babies are goooood eatin'.
Cute little tigs. I hope you're feeling fine soon.
that is the sweetest thing.
Wow.
It's like the hippo and tortise story. Very cool.
That is so interesting. Now to mention cute. Although...pigs dressed up as tigers What will the wolf say? ;)
I have read of dogs raising kittens, but this one is really something else!
Hope you feel better soon! Stay hydrated...hopefully food will be on the agenda soon!
alan
I wonder how long she'll continue to feel maternal?
Hope your innards are feeling better soon.
The Snopes.com link you posted actually explains that the "depressed tiger" explanation was invented by someone, and is false. The photos are from a zoo in Thailand which apparently likes to display animals in ways to debunk preconceptions of predator/prey relationships. The zoo is also suspected of breeding tigers to sell illegally to China for parts, so they probably just suck.
I do love the photos, though, and prefer the original explanation of them :)
Sorry you are still sick. Get well, darnit..
And the tiger and piglets thing.
Awwwwww..
I've got a hankerin' for some good ole' canadian bacon. Who's with me? heheh.
Feel better darlin'
dc
I can't believe that no-one has said anything about "pigs-in-a-blanket"...
Mmmm, pork chops!
anon - the very first comment mentioned pigs-in-a-blanket.
Later, the pigs protested being made to pose in such life threatening positions.
OMG - THAT is way way way way tooo sweet! how amazing!
story is incorrect. it was not a california zoo. see
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/tiger-piglets.html
You're right - it's not a CA zoo it's a Thailand zoo, and you can also read the real story on www.snopes.com!
Urban Legends has a page on it, as well.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_tiger_and_piglets.htm
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