Koza and Cairo - Megacuteness

My readers know what a sucker I am for the interspecies cute animal stories. Here's the latest, this time from San Diego.

Koza the baby lion's mother gave birth to twin lions by Caesarean, and then lost one of the babies. She was weakened from the difficult delivery, and deemed unable to care for the baby, and so they were separated.

In an attempt to get Koza to learn how to socialize with other young mammals, his keepers have gradually introduced him to Cairo, an Italian mastiff puppy.

At first there was some friction, with Cairo playfully nibbling on Koza's ears, and Koza being a little peeved by this "how do you do." But gradually they have become more relaxed and playful with each other, sharing food from the same bowl, and gnawing on chew toys side by side.

The best part is how Cairo pounces on Koza, chewing on him like he's a Nylabone, with no care whatsoever for the fact that eventually, Koza will be a fierce 400 pound carnivorous predator, while Cairo will top out at about 90 pounds, and likely spend much of his life in a suburban backyard full of tulips, while not napping on a leather couch in front of a widescreen tv.

Here's a link to the photo gallery of "awwwwww....."

(Source:signonsandiego)