Nature always manages to surprise, and these pictures are a perfect example of that. In the animal kingdom, it’s easy to think that animals only think about themselves or about their own kind, but that definitely is not the case.

We often see cats and gods befriending each other, or pets and farm animals – but this story is definitely a little bit more special.

Someone saw two animals who have absolutely nothing in common caring for each other, and now these heartwarming pictures have gone viral.

In the two photos, we see a goose who is sheltering a poor puppy from the cold. The temperatures were dangerously low and it was clear that the four-footer was looking for shelter. Luckily, the dog found some directly in the warm arms of this kind goose.

The two images went viral in January of 2019 in a Facebook post by Suzanna PadaPetra, which has now been made unavailable. It was viewed on a massive scale as it was shared 236,000 times!

“The man finds a goose that was shaking with cold stuck to a pole in Montana,” the post read. “The goose was sheltering with her wings a puppy that was about to die frozen. We have so much to learn as a species.”

Fact-checking website Snopes had some doubts about the legitimacy of the story.

It turns out that this ‘polar vortex’ story in Montana is indeed most likely a hoax, but the images are most certainly legitimate and haven’t been doctored at all. Nonetheless, the final sentence in that Facebook-post is most definitely true: it’s a perfect example of someone who helps another in need, even when they have no relationship with each other at all. Something that plenty of humans can definitely learn from.

They were able to trace the images back to a story that was shared two years earlier in China.

It turns out that the photographs originate from Chinese social media websites Toutiao and Weibo, which can be compared to Facebook and Twitter. A quick translation tells us that the pup was shivering on the side of the road during winter, and suddenly came across a group of ducks. Even though you can’t see all of the ducks in the picture, apparently the mother duck immediately grabbed the puppy and put it under her wings to keep the four-footer warm and safe.

“The puppy was shivering coldly on the side of the road. Even the passing ducks couldn’t see it. But one puppy ran straight at the puppy and hugged it to keep it warm.”

“When the dog was hugged by the duck, it did not struggle and was safely taken in the duck’s arms. It can be seen that the ducks have more love, and that mother love is great.”

Even though interspecies animal friendships aren’t that uncommon, it is pretty rare for an animal to take care of another animal that isn’t their own child.

“In the care of the mother duck, the puppy no longer has to be afraid of being cold, and only this kind of particularly caring duck mother will do this. The average animal will not be like this for children who are not their own,” the website stated.

“Although the back story behind these particular photographs may be unclear, it isn’t unprecedented for birds and dogs to strike up friendships. A pelican in Turkey named Osman became a bit of a local celebrity after befriending a dog.”

Despite the fact that the origin of the accompanying story is somewhat unclear, there is absolutely no doubt that these images are absolutely heartwarming and adorable.

Whether you call it kindness, selflessness or motherly instincts – this goose wasn’t about to let this puppy get hurt or worse by the cold and harsh temperatures. An absolutely beautiful thing to witness!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: Truth Inside Of You, Snopes