Baby liliger Kiara plays with her new foster mother - a domestic cat.

Kiara is a liliger - a hybrid cross between a lion and a ligress (a cross between a lion and a tiger). She was born recently at Novosibirsk Zoo in Russia.

Unfortunately, her mother stopped producing milk, so the zoo staff had to begin hand-feeding her from a bottle every three hours. In order to maintain the necessary around-the-clock feedings, keeper Roza Solovieva decided to take Kiara home to foster. There, Kiara met Roza's domestic cat, Darka.

As a mother to a kitten already, Darka immediately slipped into the role of parent, cleaning, cuddling, and playing with Kiara 24/7. Despite their affection for one another, Roza kept a close eye on the two.

Once Kiara was old enough to begin eating meat, it was just a matter of time before she would begin displaying predatory behavior; as such, it was time for her to return to her natural mother. The reintroduction went smoothly, and Kiara now happily resides at the zoo with her mother.

Rocky Watkins is an unusual squirrel.

As a baby, he fell from his nest and was found by Karen Watkins (now his owner). Karen couldn’t reach his nest to put him back. Not knowing what else to do, she and her husband, Jim, did the next best thing they could think of… they placed the baby squirrel into a box of newborn kitten that their recently adopted cat Emmy had just given birth to.

Emmy immediately accepted Rocky as one of her own kittens, bathing and feeding him with the rest of his new brothers and sisters. Most interesting is the new trait Rocky has recently picked up - when he’s happy or receiving attention, he purrs!

Karen and Jim Watkins run a non-profit animal rescue in Central Mississippi called TAILS. To learn more about them, visit their page here.