I know, I know. Drowning rats and fat toads don't exactly sound like the ingredients to the most adorable of stories. Trust me, though. Somehow, an amphibian prince rescuing a worldwide pest is one of the cutest things you'll ever see.
These photos were taken spontaneously by Azam Husain, a photographer for Barcroft Media India. He noticed something floating in the water of a nearby pond and as he observed, it turned out to be a tiny rat struggling for his life, holding onto a piece of debris. But before he could even think the words 'These things just happen', an unlikely hero came to help.
Azam took his camera out and watched in amazement how a toad swam up to the drowning rat, and rose up from underneath it, allowing it to come on board.
The rat immediately climbed on the toad's rough, bumpy back..
Source: www.mirror.co.uk
Almost as if the rescue mission was arranged!
After a standard "Hold on tight" routine, the toad dove underwater and carried its new friend to the shore
Once they arrived to safety, the rat ran to the bushes and the toad back to the pond.
Curiously enough, these two critters aren't normally known to be friends in the wild. In fact, amphibians are often on a rat's diet, and vice versa.
Hence, what we're left with is this: either the toad did it for the recognition and screen-time.. or true kindness is sometimes, too, a force of nature :)