One of these four-legged party animals is not like the other–at least, not on the outside. Eight-year-old Olive the pig seems convinced that she's just like the rest of her canine crew.
Olive and her four-legged friends are cared for by Sydney, Australia-based photographer named Alissa Childs and her husband, Nick. The human pair foster a host of other animals at their home as well, including goats and chickens, but the bond between Olive and her furry friends is something special. Alissa explains to Mashable that Olive “definitely behaves as though she is one of the dogs. She spends every hour of the day with them, plays with them like a dog, she naps with them. If the dogs run at the gate to bark at something in the street, she races with them.”
In a way, the cross-species kinship makes sense, since pigs and dogs have similar cognitive capabilities. Nonetheless, their fondness for each other has been a bit of a surprise to the Childs. Alissa says that she and Nick were most concerned to see how Olive would get along with Lola, their adopted Frenchie who isn't particularly friendly to the other farm animals–but within two days of Olive's arrival, she started treating the top dog like her mother. Olive trails Lola consistently and cuddles up against her, and Lola even cleans Olive as she might a puppy.
You can “aww” at all four pets–both the dogs and the hog–as they ham it up for the camera on Alissa's Instagram account.
Alissa Childs: Instagram | Facebook
via [ViralNova, Mashable]
All images via Alissa Childs.
