... and never say again that humans are better than wild animals! Aqui!

Truly, we are confronted (within our own settings, and what others might choose to share on social media) with 'unlikely' cross-species interactions.

Yes, some might attempt overlay arguements contending that domesticated tiger had some level of understanding of this newly arrived young annoyance but that would not explain 'unlikely' cross-species nurturing in the wild.

Yes, we do see many instances where animals "lesser" than us treat their own kind, and sometimes other species, better than we do of some of our own kind.

Doesn't that tiger know you shouldn't play with your food?

Seriously though, I understand that it is a mistake to treat tigers as pets rather than the apex predators they are. Many, many years ago when the earth was still young...well maybe it was somewhat less than that -- I was actually in my early teens, and thanks to a man who befriended my mother and myself when we were visiting the London Zoo, we were granted the great privilege of being taken behind the scenes to be introduced to a young tiger/cub called Baccha. The experience was hands on and supervised by Baccha's assigned keeper, who jokingly warned my mother not to let him ladder her stockings. He then went on to issue more serious information about the experience of some of those who had thought to keep tigers as pets.

Seemingly everything can appear to be fine, with the cub acting fine with pets and people, friendly and loving, and staying that way as it grows into a fine specimen of a tiger -- part of the family even! Then one day the tiger lovingly licks someone! (Cue the shower scene music from Psycho) It seems that a tiger's tongue is one of the dangerous weapons in its armoury -- it can flay the skin off an animal in one rasping lick! Once it tastes blood and its brain registers that you are meat you are moments away from being the top of the day's menu!

According to our friendly keeper, too many would-be pet tiger owners pay for their stupidity the hard way.