Your morning adorable: Dog nurses red panda cubs in Chinese zoo
At the Taiyuan Zoo in northern China's Shanxi province, a red panda gave birth to two cubs unexpectedly on June 25. "No one knew she was pregnant" because the panda's bushy fur and general plumpness masked her telltale burgeoning stomach, zoo employee Ha Guojiang told China's state news agency.
Immediately after the two cubs were born, they were abandoned by their mother -- so zoo staff set about finding a suitable adoptive mother. Several female dogs that had recently given birth to their own litters of puppies were considered for the gig, the Associated Press reports. Zoo staff chose this willing candidate, a white mixed-breed owned by a farmer who lives in a neighboring suburb.
She takes to her duties so enthusiastically, Ha said, that she sometimes even denies her own puppy milk in favor of the red pandas. The cubs are reportedly thriving and have doubled in length over the last weeks (they now measure about 8 inches long). As adults, they'll be about the size of a house cat (but with much larger, bushier tails than most cats) and spend most of their time in trees.
Red pandas are native to China, Myanmar and Nepal; they're classified as endangered because of habitat loss as a result of deforestation. See another photo of the adoptive mom and cubs after the jump!
-- Lindsay Barnett
Photos: Associated Press
Awww! What a beautiful story. GOD Bless this Little Angel (adopting mom) that is taking care about the beautiful little red pandas.
Love.
Posted by: Dalia E. Hettfield | July 16, 2009 at 09:09 PM
now find someone that poor starving dog can nurse on!!
Posted by: Sue Thorson | July 17, 2009 at 07:28 AM
Great story and a good idea; I hate to think of what happened to the pooches' pups tho'!; gol bless them and the Pooch and the red panda cubs; !
Posted by: anne | July 18, 2009 at 04:13 AM
and blessings to the red panda mohter; i forgot to say...a.
Posted by: anne | July 18, 2009 at 04:14 AM
Thats an amazing story. What a wonderful little dog!
Posted by: Used Cisco | July 18, 2009 at 12:00 PM
The more I know people, the more I love my dog...
Posted by: Bruni | July 19, 2009 at 03:44 PM
i luuuuuuv animals! ESPECIALLY dogs! i hav 4. 2 of them r chihuahuas n theyre not just cute they r oh so loving n caring. i was jus hsppy wen i read this s this story. chihuahuas never seem to get all thr credit they deserve. long live Chihuahuas! :)
Posted by: karla | September 06, 2009 at 09:34 PM