After being rejected by their own mother, three tigers settled for a substitute, a mixed breed farm dog named “Huani”.
At the Paomaling Zoo in Jinan, the capital of East China’s Shandong Province, the three tiger cubs were pictured nursing from their interim mother, and are expected to do so for another month.
Oddly enough, Paomaling manager Chen Yucai said it was fairly common to use dogs as surrogate mothers for rejected tiger cubs, and that Huani herself had nursed tigers in the past.
In the past zoo workers would place a small amount of the dogs’ urine on the tiger cubs’ fur to coax the mother into thinking the cubs were her own, but in this case it wasn’t necessary.
Huani seems to be a perfect fit, and didn’t mind taking on the new cubs.
“The family is getting along well and seems to enjoy each other,” Chen said.
The only problem now is giving the tiger cubs new names. They currently go by the names, “One”, “Two”, and “Three”.