While checking to see if his pet duck’s eggs had hatched one day, a West Australian man named Rex found something unusual cuddling in the nest beside the unhatched eggs
“I went to check on the eggs and a little bandicoot had made its way underneath,” Rex said. “I thought ‘what are you doing there?'” Due to their small size, especially as babies, bandicoots are easy targets for hungry predators, and often depend on finding some place to hide for surviving.
The helpless creature managed to make its way into this mother duck’s nest, and even after the baby ducklings hatched, the bandicoot was welcomed into the new fluffy family.
Surprisingly, the duck was less concerned with the foreign bandicoot joining her family of hatchlings, and more concerned with getting back on top of her nest to keep them all warm and protected when Rex lifted her to check on the new family.
“It’s been there for five days now. If it was by itself it would have been picked up by a magpie or something but it’s sought refuge under the duck,” Rex said.
Can you believe this mother duck actually adopted this vulnerable baby bandicoot, and cared for it like her own ducklings? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this adorable story on Facebook.
[Featured image credit: Wayne Cuthbert]