Motherly Instincts Overpower the Instinct to Kill

Conservation officials say while this is a rare thing to happen, they don't know how long it will last

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — It’s a rare thing in the wild to see, but in a Tanzanian Wildlife Conservation, being a mother is all that matters.

In the wild, lions and leopards are mortal enemies and lions will kill their competition within seconds of meeting one another.

But this lioness, who has taken pity on an orphan leopard cub, is taking care of it and inviting it into the pride.

Conservation officials say while this is a rare thing to happen, they don’t know how long it will last.

“Whether she is going to feed this baby leopard until it grows older or she will start to realize this is actually not supposed to be one of the animals I should take care of, I don’t know what the future holds,” said Agness Maluleke, who is the curator of carnivores at the Johannesburg City Park Sanzoo. “I suppose this is what monitoring for a long time to see what is going to happen in the future.”

Conservation officials say the only sense they can make of the relationship is the maternal instincts of the lioness in this case became stronger than her kill instinct.