There’s nothing like meeting your child for the first time. After nine months of carrying him or her, hours of labor, and countless moments in between, you’re finally eye to eye with the person you never thought you could love more than anything. It’s truly something unlike any other.
It would make sense that the same feeling goes for animals when they meet their sons or daughters—even seemingly vicious animals like lions and tigers. (Seriously, have you seen what happens when this white tiger tries to attack his unsuspecting caretaker? Let’s just say we don’t want to be him in that moment!)
But really, lions have hearts too. And yours will melt when you see this dad lion meet his baby son for the first time.
The backstory makes it even better: Before the cub, named Tatu, and his dad, named Tobias, were united, he was only able to see the members of his family, like his half siblings and aunts, through mesh. So when the big moment happened, it was truly a sight to be seen. It’s probably the cutest thing you’ll see all day. If you’re an animal lover, we’re warning you: There are squeals in your future.
In the video, Tobias crouches down to the little one’s height, going nearly nose-to-nose with each other. It only lasts a few moments, but there’s something about it that’s warm and heartwarming and makes us want to watch it over and over. It’s like they instantly know that they’re family and share a unique bond that only the two of them understand!
The adorable moment happened at Denver Zoo, which is also who shared the video. Check it out below, and try not to “awww” out loud!
More than 7,000 people liked the video, with tons of comments from fans swooning over the cute moment, as well as how adorable the cub is himself.
“He is so precious! I love dad’s interaction with him, so gentle from such a powerful creature,” one person wrote.
“He could not be any cuter,” another fan wrote. “So tiny next to his daddy.”
“The biggest, scariest males in the world can become child talking pushovers when their babies are in front of them,” someone else noted.
Perhaps it was the fact that Tobias knew that his son’s birth was that of a huge success, and that he was meeting someone truly special. Here’s why:
“Half of Africa’s lions have disappeared in the past 25 years and the species faces growing threats from poaching, loss of prey and habitat destruction,” DenverZoo.org reports. “The cub’s birth is a huge success for the Lion Species Survival Plan (SSP), which ensures healthy, genetically diverse populations of lions within Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) institutions.”
To learn more about this lion cub and his father, check out the video below!
Have you ever seen such a cute moment between lions before? How adorable is this little baby cub? Does this make you want to book a trip to the zoo ASAP?