In Nature, young animals are entirely dependent on their parents. As such, when they become separated, it doesn’t take long for danger to close in.
Donovan Piketh sent this challenging footage to Latest Sightings. He filmed it while visiting South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
A sight no one wants to see
As the clip Donovan sent plays, a sight no one wants to see confronts us. An elephant calf, just a couple of months old, stands next to his vehicle.
Evidently, the calf has become separated from its mother. In desperation, it approaches his vehicle, perhaps mistaking the large vehicle for one of its own kind.
Searching
In the next scene, we see the calf frantically running to and fro. Our first assumption is that it is searching for some sign of its herd.
Ordinarily, elephant herds are highly protective of their smallest members. So it is hard to fathom how the calf came to be alone.
However, we soon learn that being lost marks only the beginning of its troubles. Effectively defenceless, the ominous sense that danger lurks nearby begins to grow.
Skulking shadows
Subsequently, in the low light, we see movement. Too small to be an elephant, our alarm grows as we recognise a familiar outline.
A spotted hyena has appeared. Making matters worse, it shows a clear interest in the abandoned calf.
Opportunity knocks
Despite their reputation as scavengers, hyenas hunt opportunistically and with great efficiency. And, with such a vulnerable calf discovered, this is an opportunity the hyena is unlikely to ignore.
Subsequently, with its head lowered, the hyena advances on the petrified calf. In typical elephant fashion, the calf flares its ears, vainly trying to intimidate the relentless predator to no avail.
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Troubles multiply
A few moments later, the situation suddenly worsens for the already embattled calf. A second hyena has arrived on the scene, and together, the pair circle the calf, looking for an opening to attack.
Hyenas are known as cursorial hunters, meaning that they weaken their prey by exhausting it. As the pair circle the calf, it’s obvious that this is what they’re trying to do. Should they succeed, their next step will be to start biting…
Reprieve?
However, just when we think it is just a matter of time before blood starts to flow, the video cuts to a new scene. With no clue given as to what became of the hyenas, we see the calf alongside Donovan’s vehicle once again.
While we’re grateful the tormenting hyenas have left, their absence raises other questions: what will become of the calf now?
A bleak future
Obviously, without its mother’s milk and protection, the calf faces a very uncertain future. Will other predators find it? Or, worse yet, will it face a lingering death by starvation?
Of course, there is little Donovan can do. Park regulations forbid the public from interfering with wildlife. Furthermore, it is park policy not to intervene in instances like this, unless they can be shown to have been caused by human influences.
Instead, all we can do is bear witness to the “cruelty” occasionally hidden in Nature’s complex mysteries. Unless it is miraculously reunited with its herd, this calf’s life will be a tragic sacrifice made for the greater good of the ecosystem.