Golden Retriever casually mixes with tigers, leaves internet shocked

A video shared on Instagram showing a golden retriever dog confidently mixing with half-a-dozen massive adult tigers has caught the eyes of netizens. The video has gone viral with more than 1.2 million views and 52,000 likes. 

The video shows the caramel-brown dog barking petulantly at some unknown entity, as the tigers casually lounge around her uninterested in doing anything adverse about it. Instead, these magnificent beasts- some of them in their usual orange with black stripes, while others in stark white, are seen behaving more like their smaller domesticated cat-cousins, rather than the deadly predators that we know they are.

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Many commentators were baffled by the dog’s courage and confidence in the way she was roaming amongst these tigers with no fear for her life. They were also surprised that the tigers were least interested in causing her any harm. You can watch the video here:

However, on closer look, this appears to be yet another heartwarming story of animal brotherhood, or rather cross-animal parenthood in this particular case! This is because, according to the viral video, this adorable dog raised these tigers as her own pups when they were little cubs themselves. She even fed them her own milk, which is why these tigers seem to think that she is their mother, in spite of them having grown at least thrice her size since! 

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So what many people thought was a precarious situation for the vulnerable dog was actually just an endearing video of a heavy-handed mamma throwing her weight around in front of her big boys. “I love how the dog keeps the peace”, commented one user, referring to a moment in the video where the dog mom appears to defuse tensions between two mischievous tigers, with an air of authority that only a mother can possess!

The animal kingdom never ceases to surprise us- long may it continue! 

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