[PeterPrinciple]

On the farm we had a sheep that nursed on the dog. Dang sheep thought it was a dog all it's life and would only eat dog food.

[Maceman]

"And the lion shall lay down with the lamb"

But the lamb won't get much sleep.

[Nachoman]

Its a pretty clever lion that raises its own food.

[spetznaz]

Is this the same lioness that nursed 4 antelope calfs (at different times) in 2003?

[spetznaz]

Actually this is the same story i was referring to. It started in 2002 (the date of the article) and continued through 2003. As of last update, armed game wardens were watching over the lioness and her (then) newly adopted calf (the 4th or 5th). It was really interesting to note just how much care and affection (and yes,it was veritable care and affection) the lioness bestowed on all the calves. At times, especially after one of the first was killed by a lion, she would go for days without eating so as to keep guard over the foal.

I guess the lioness must have lost her cubs, and that her maternal instinct took over and she started adopting calves. In several cases she would even let the calf suckle from the mother antelope (in all cases the mother antelope would shadow the strange pair, and every now and then the lioness would move away so that the calf could suckle. Sadly, sooner or later, the mother antelope would always stop following the pair).

Anyways, a very strange and intriguing story. I went out of my way to always keep track of what was going on (since i haven't been in Kenya since 1999), but the reports stopped once armed guards started protecting the pair (which is probably a good thing since tourists would pester the pair by driving too close).