Zoo worker notices mother lynx refusing to care for her newborn cub, brings in her own domestic cat who had just given birth, and the feline foster mom adopts the wild baby, raising it alongside her kittens

Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor

Jun 26, 2026 2:15 PM EDT

Sometimes, cute AI stories online are based on real stories - that are much, much cuter.

You may have seen this viral Twitter thread come across your timelines this week. Two cute pictures of a cat and a lynx cub with an equally cute caption story above them. But you, with your keen eye and your new suspicion of every cute post you see on the internet, instantly realized the story and the pictures were generated by AI. You open the post, and the comments confirm your suspicions. It's AI. Except… not exactly.

AI pulls its ideas from somewhere. It finds… inspiration in real life. And we, the ICHC writers, as people who have made it our business to know every single story that there is in existence about cats, knew, right away, that this AI story was based on a real one.

All the way back in 2015, something amazing happened. At the Novosibirsk Zoo in Russia, a domestic cat adopted a lynx cub. We had to dig for a while for a proper reference, but we found it - a 10-year-old DailyMail article covering exactly this story. Way before AI took over our lives. It's a simple story, but it is precious, and we understand why its AI version would go viral today.

A worker at the Novosibirsk zoo noticed that one of their lynx cubs was being neglected by its mother. It was the runt of the litter, and Momma Lynx decided he wasn't quite strong enough for her. That worker, concerned, came up with a unique idea. She brought in her own domestic cat, who had just given birth to kittens, and placed her with the cub, hoping that the mom's maternal instincts would apply to the itty-bitty wild cub as well. And they did.

The momma cat took in the lynx as if he were one of her own, raising him alongside her little kittens. The pictures of the pair are iconic. Truly, there is no need to generate fake ones when the real ones are so cute.

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via @catwithaura
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via @catwithaura
The story that went viral. You can see why it would capture people's attention. But in our opinion, it's not any better than the real story. Might as well have published that one, instead of adding to the AI minefield.
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via @ValDobson
Also no, we didn't bother putting in the AI-generated pictures. We don't believe in those. Especially when it comes to animal content. Scroll down, we promise that the real pictures of the real cat and lynx cub are much better.
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via RIANOVOSTI
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via Ruptly
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via Ruptly
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via Ruptly
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via Ruptly
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via @Dr_AJknowsaword
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via @OBrandwag
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via @141TC
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via @Lisamarchand20
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via @ChrisSkinnerSk1