Extraordinary Bond Between Rhesus Monkey And Puppy Will Touch Your Heart [Photos]

After the unlikely bond between a rhesus macaque monkey and a homeless puppy — formed on the streets of Erode city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu — sparked interest from locals, it drew the attention of the local and national media in India. Photos uploaded to the Facebook pages of the Indian newspapers Dinamalar Daily and the Logical Indian earlier this month show instances in the lives of the strange interspecies pair.

A photo shows the monkey protecting the puppy from a stray dog. The monkey advances menacingly on the dog with its teeth bared as a warning to the dog to stay away.

Another photo shows the monkey carrying the puppy around as if it were its own baby, grooming and feeding the puppy. Other photos show the monkey clutching the puppy to its body as it swings from trees. There is also a touching moment where the monkey shares with the puppy a bowl of milk put out by admiring locals.

The monkey reportedly allowed the puppy lap the milk as it stood over it protectively.

The photos went viral on Indian social media with tens of thousands of views and likes.

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Truly, the end of the world…RT @YanniKouts: Lovely: Female monkey raises a puppy dog on the streets of New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/P2zx6yFgpV

— Shai Franklin (@shaifranklin) January 25, 2016

Unfortunately, details about how the monkey and the puppy met and became friends, as well as their daily life on the streets of Erode, provided in the Indian news media were rather sketchy. But it is clear that the primate adopted the puppy as its own and lavished it with care that mammals normally reserve only for their own biological offspring.

The apparent single-minded dedication of the monkey to caring for the puppy led some social media users to speculate that the monkey might have lost its own baby and adopted the puppy instead to fill the void in its life.

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According to the Indian Zee News, locals were amazed at the strong bond and mutual affection between the monkey and the puppy and began leaving food for them. They were touched to see the monkey sharing food with the puppy and even ensuring that it gets the best part of the food by allowing it to eat first.

“People who have seen them all spoke of their strong mutual affection and described their bond as the most caring thing in the world,” Sasi Kumar, a resident of Erode city, told Zee News. “To take care of a puppy in danger and protect him like a parent, their undying affection gives us a valuable lesson about relationships.”

“It seems the monkey must have lost its baby and was heartbroken. It is quite possible that it saw its own baby in the puppy and decided to protect and adopt it,” Kumar added.

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https://twitter.com/VirtuaMe/status/691589760977104896

But according to latest reports, after the unusual interspecies relationship caught the attention of local and national news media, officials with the Indian forestry department moved to take custody of the puppy. The local authorities took the puppy out of fear that the monkey might not provide adequate care for it.

For instance, a photo shows the monkey feeding grapes to the dog. Dog lovers commenting online agreed that such vegetarian diet was inappropriate for a dog and that eating too many grapes could harm the puppy.

“Grapes are poisonous to dogs. Dogs who ingest even a few grapes can go into renal failure quickly.

“My brother almost lost his dog after it got hold of grapes on a table. The vet said even dogs who have eaten grapes previously without a bad reaction can suddenly have one the next time it eats grapes.

“Cute pics but that dog is gonna die if a human being doesn’t intervene soon!”

Rhesus macaque monkeys are mostly vegetarians, feeding on seeds, roots, fruits and cereals. But they may also feed on insects such as termites, ants, grasshoppers and beetles.

They are widely distributed in south, central, and southeast Asia and often live close to humans, especially in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, and Thailand.

[Image via Shutterstock]