Puppy Shows Lion Cub Ways Of World
In the animal world, dogs and cats are hardly the best of pals. But no one at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park is telling a happy pair of young ones they're not supposed to get along.
As Hattie Kauffman
on The Early Show Wednesday, the mother of Koza the lion cub can't play with him yet because she's still recovering from the C-section she had when he was born.Zookeepers were worried the cub wouldn't learn social skills so they introduced a playmate, Cairo the puppy.
"They curl up together, they play together. They're real good buds, and they do the things they'd do with their own kind," animal trainer Heidi Ensley says. "The dog is definitely going to be a security blanket for this lion cub to get comfortable."
In a way, Kauffman says, they're both survivors: a future king of the jungle born without a mom to play with right away, and a puppy whose mom was rescued from Hurricane Katrina.
"It's real nice to be able to find a home for an animal that needs a home," says Ensley.
There have been unusual animal pairings in the San Diego facility before, including a dog and a cheetah, and a rhino and baby banteng calf.
But, Kauffman says, there's nothing quite like puppy love. It seems dogs aren't just man's best friend!