Tiger and his prey form an unlikely friendship

Sunday, January 17, 2016, 3:54 PM - More than a month ago, a goat was released into a tiger's pen at a safari park in far east Russia, as live prey.

Today, the goat is still alive, the two are now inseparable, and they've since become an international sensation with their own social media following.

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Although the tiger, Amur, and his goat pal Timur live in adjoined cages, they enjoy spending their free time together roaming around the park ground, playing hide and seek and head-butting games.

At first, many chimed in to say the friendship wouldn't last. The Siberian Times reported an 85 per cent chance that Amur would eat Timur within a week.

However, Timur proved to be a braver-than-normal goat, lacking a fear for tigers as predators. Reports say Timur's bravery could be a reason that Amur hasn't attacked.

Since Timur's arrival in late November, their bond seems to have only grown stronger. During their first reported "fight" together, Timur forced the tiger out of his shelter during a rainstorm.

But the pair appeared to have worked through their differences quite quickly.

Since moving in together, Timur and Amur gave garnered international attention, becoming the subjects of two documentaries and increasing the safari's traffic by 300 per cent. The park recently announced its plan to install 16 cameras to live stream the pair.

Despite their close bond, Amur still has a natural instinct to kill, park officials say.

Out of respect for Timur, a park representative told the BBC that they no longer feed Amur goats. Instead, his diet is limited to rabbits.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

SOURCE: BBC | The Siberian Times | The Dodo