AceShowbiz -

Bradley Cooper is giving up some of his downtime to bond with one big cat. The 36-year-old actor, who recently reprised his role as Phil Wenneck in "The Hangover Part II", was photographed on Tuesday, June 28, cuddling and cradling a 2-month-old tiger cub named Annastazia.

The ex-boyfriend of Renee Zellweger can't keep his hands off the young striped predator while on the set of a new project directed by "Parenthood" star Dax Shepard. Sporting a pair of yellow aviator shades, white sweater and soul patch, he looked nearly unrecognizable with a dreadlock hairdo.

Speaking of the bond Bradley shared with Annastazia, Karl Mitchell of Big Cat Encounter told PEOPLE, "He just took her and she immediately fell in love with him." The tiger cub's caretaker went to praise the Hollywood hunk, "He has some kind of an animal connection inside of him that's fairly obvious."

This isn't the first time Bradley worked with a wild cat. He has filmed with a fully grown tiger when working on "The Hangover". In the 2009 comedy movie, he and his friends wake up after a night of wild partying only to find the Mike Tyson-owned beast inside the bathroom of their Las Vegas suite.