Ashur lost her leg when her father attacked her at the zoo where they lived in Budapest, Hungary. Could be that Ashur stayed out too late one night with her boyfriend and didn’t call in, thus worrying her frantic father to no end? So much so that Papa leopard took one of her front legs off in hopes of keeping her in line?

Then suddenly the fairy god leopard in the sky arranged for young Ashur to be teletransported (by train, I suppose) to Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo where miracles happened, the way they often do in the Bible. Ashur healed and, in the end she got along just fine making do with three where most have four.

Now Ashur has a new protector, Max. Max is 17-years old. Ashur is just 3. In leopard years, they are much closer in age, we hope, less Ashur’s father come looking for Max. Someday soon perhaps there will be cubs.

Don’t you love happy endings?

After the incredible commercial on global warming with animals that “give up”, I think it’s refreshing to take a look at some babies … cubs, kitties, little fellows. There’s something about the hope in the eyes of a newborn, human, animal or otherwise that gives us reason to think that everything can still be okay IF we change our ways.

Two Persian leopard twin cubs made their debut at the Budapest Zoo, last week. One of the little fellows came out shouting: “I want a world to grow up in! Please stop destroying our world. We live here, too!”. Or some other sentiments to that affect.

Seriously, is there anything else that can make us feel better about the world than something as precious as these youngsters? If so, please put a link here in the comments to tell us about it. – via Sina

When a leopard goes up against a crocodile, who you gonna bet on? A wildlife photographer who was shooting hippos at a waterhole in Kruger National Park happened upon an encounter between the two. A fearsome fight ensued with a history of the crocodiles getting the upper jaw. But this time?

The leopard attacks

 

The cat hits the croc at full speed

 

The whiskered predator sends jaws hind end over appetite.

 

Spot starts dragging Slimy.

 

But the croc fights back.

 

The leopard gets the upper paw.

 

The Croc hangs lifeless, limp

 

The leopard suffocates the crocodile.

 

An awful lot of work to get a pair of shoes and a belt, no?

Which did you think would win?