In a First, Dolphin Mother Adopts a Whale Calf: WATCH

IT’S GOT all the hallmarks of a Disney animated film. Like The Fox and the Hound, or Mowgli the man-cub from The Jungle Book, National Geographic says they have identified a bottlenose dolphin who adopted a melon-headed whale.

According to National Geographic, “In 2014, researchers off French Polynesia spotted a bottlenose dolphin mother caring for an unusual-looking calf. That calf was a melon-headed whale, a different genus and species than the mother. Adoption is uncommon among wild mammals, with most occurring between related members of the same species. The whale orphan entered the dolphin group and stayed with the mother longer than even her biological offspring, who vanished mysteriously. She was even seen nursing it at times. Female bottlenose dolphins have been known to “steal” babies of other species for brief periods of times during times of conflict. In this case, the mother made an enormous time commitment to the orphan. During its three years living with this pod of 30 dolphins, the orphan learned several bottlenose behaviors, such as surfing.

“We were really excited to be able to witness such a rare phenomenon,” says study lead author Pamela Carzon, scientific leader of the Groupe d’Étude des Mammifères Marins (GEMM) de Polynésie, based in Tiputa, French Polynesia.

Adoption is uncommon among wild mammals, with most occurring between related members of the same species. The only other scientifically documented case involving an adopted orphan of a different species and genus was in 2006, when University of São Paulo primatologist Patrícia Izar observed a group of capuchins caring for a baby marmoset. “At the time, we were really, really astonished,” she says.

Watch the video below.