A dog has adopted a litter of baby orphaned opossums and even carries them around on her back.
Animal trainer Stephanie Maldonado wrote on Facebook that a litter of baby opossums were orphaned in Brazil on Jan. 16 after her uncle's dog attacked and killed their mother.
Opossums are marsupials and their babies live in their pouches for the first 70 to 125 days of their life, enjoying the extra warmth from when they are young.
Maldonado decided to care for the litter of opossums, and ended up having a little help from her best friend Pretinha.
Maldonado said that as soon as the dog met the baby opossums she took on the role of their mother.
Pretinha helped care for the baby opossums all through the night, licking them for extra warmth...
And letting them cuddle in her belly.
The dog was able to do everything for the baby opossums, except nurse them, which Maldonado did by hand with special milk.
She said at first she had to feed the opossums milk every 2 hours and then eventually only every 3 hours. Now, they are eating solid food, such as berries.
As the baby opossums started to get older and a little more adventurous, Pretinha let them use her back to practice climbing, just like an opossum mom would do.
Together the unique family goes on walks in the sun:
Now the little baby opossums aren’t so little anymore.
