If there’s one thing we love, it’s stories of animals forming unlikely friendships with each other. Dogs palling around with cats, monkeys getting cute and cuddly with some little ducklings — I eat up all that cuteness with a dang spoon .
The latest and greatest unexpected duo comes from a zoo in Australia where the coronavirus lockdown and some enclosure sharing has lead to a wombat and a koala becoming absolute besties .
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Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, New South Wales, closed its doors to visitors months ago when the outbreak first began.
In an interview with Bored Panda zookeeper Dan Rumsey explained that the lockdown is actually how Elsa the koala and Hope the wombat first became acquainted with each other.
“Whilst the Australian Reptile Park was temporarily closed throughout April and May due to coronavirus, the pair became close buddies with keepers often putting Hope the Wombat in the enclosure with Elsa,” he said. “It didn’t take long for them to become the best of friends!”
The park shared a video to its Instagram page earlier this month and revealed the new friendship that has blossomed between these two animals.
“Elsa the koala and Hope the wombat joey have become best friends forever,” the caption reads.
In the clip, the new pals give each other a few sniffs, boop noses, and nuzzle their furry little heads together in a show of affection that my heart certainly was not prepared to handle.
Although wombats and koalas are actually species-cousins, staff were still stunned to witness their incredible bond as it formed.
“It’s unusual to see them interact like this!” Rumsey said, adding that despite behavioral differences, such as koalas largely living in trees and wombats preferring to burrow underground, Elsa and Hope were still able to become the best of friends.
And, after noticing just how close they’ve become, zoo staff have been sure to let the pair hang out together as much as possible. You definitely can’t keep these besties apart!
It’s certainly heartwarming to see these two together, especially considering their backgrounds at the park.
“Elsa was born at the Australian Reptile Park last year,” Rumsey told BP . “Her mum was experiencing mastitis so we had to intervene and she was hand raised by one of our keepers. Hope was brought to us as a rescue after her mum was hit and killed by a car.”
Suffice it to say, both this koala and wombat were in need of a BFF, and I’m personally so happy that they were able to find that in each other.
h/t: Bored Panda
