Baby animals are incredibly cute, but they're also extremely vulnerable.
Just like human babies, they need the loving attention and protection of their parents in order to make sure they grow big enough to be able to take care of themselves — even when they start out pretty big like this adorable baby elephant!
Unfortunately, this group of baby opossums in Brazil didn't have that luxury. Their mother was attacked and killed, leaving the four tiny siblings completely helpless in a dangerous world.
Luckily, someone discovered the little orphans and brought them to pet behaviorist Stephanie Maldonado. She immediately tried to turn them over to a nearby wildlife rescue group, but as is so often the case, the refuge was full.
So Maldonado decided she would care for the little passel (that's what you call a group of baby opossums — isn't that adorable?) until something else could be arranged. Little did she know, her sweet dog Pretinha would step up to be the mother they really needed.
Scroll through below to see what happened when the baby opossums met this loving pup!
[H/T: The Dodo]
These are a couple of the baby opossums Maldonado was tasked with caring for.
Baby opossums are actually unable to regulate their own body heat until they're 10 to 11 weeks old. Usually they depend on their mother's cuddles to keep them from getting too cold, but in this case, she wasn't available.
Keeping them cozy and fed turned out to be a bigger task than Maldonado initially thought.
First of all, the animals had to be fed every two hours, which meant Maldonado had to get up all through the night to make sure their bellies were full.
Normally, the mother opossum would simply nurse her babies, but Maldonado had to make do with a medical syringe.
Even though Maldonado was doing her best, it was uncertain if the opossums would survive without more motherly attention.
That's when she got some much-needed help from a very unexpected assistant: her dog Pretinha.
Pretinha clearly sensed that the helpless little babies needed someone to look after them, and her motherly instincts kicked in.
Without any encouragement from Maldonado, she began to cuddle up to the opossums, giving them the warmth and security they so desperately craved.
Soon the dog was doting on the baby opossums as if they were her very own pups.
"It's very nice to see all the care that she has with them, licking them all the time and nestling them," Maldonado wrote on Facebook.
Instead of struggling, the opossums began to thrive under Pretinha's loving care.
Here they are with eyes open, helping themselves to a little lunch!
Once young opossums leave the pouch, they’re still not ready to face the world on their own. For the next 10 to 15 days, they go about clinging to their mother’s fur.
So it wasn't surprising that when the time came, they started hanging on to Pretinha's fur instead!
Now, the unlikely family have become local celebrities!
Everyone wants to snap a picture of Pretinha giving the little opossums piggy back rides all around town.
Even though no one thought they would make it past day one, the passel of opossums is now over a month old.
They’re continuing to grow up healthy and strong thanks to Pretinha’s care!
Check out this blog post from the U.S. Opossum Society to learn what you should do if you ever find an orphaned opossum.
Have you ever taken care of a baby animal because its mother was gone? Tell us about it in the comments.
Please SHARE this incredible story with any animal-lovers in your life!
