Ever wondered why it’s called a “Murder of Crows”? A mother warthog learns the hard way when 3 of her piglets get terminated by crows.
83-year-old retired secretary Mavis Crundwell was on a solo safari in the Pilanesberg national park. She stumbled across a sight that left her stunned. A murder of crows having a go at warthog piglets with their protective mom trying to save her young. She shared her sighting with the Latest Sightings Pilanesberg WhatsApp group.
Mavis shares her unusual story with LatestSightings.com: “Upon leaving Pilanesberg Centre at 1:30 PM. I noticed a Pied Crow pecking at something on the roadside. Approaching ever so slowly I realized it was eating a baby Warthog! Looking around, I saw another pied crow pecking at a squirming piglet under some bushes!”
Crows are generally scavengers. They will take any opportunity to eat the leftovers of other animals. However, in this instance, nature displayed one of its rare moments. Who knows, perhaps hunger drove these crows to murder not one, not two but multiple little helpless piglets.
“Moments later, the second crow left the struggling piglet and found a third one. Attacking the still-moving piglet, the crow was not relenting, even though the young piglet’s mom was trying hard to save her dying young.”
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“Can crows actually murder four young piglets that are under the protection of a sharp-tusked mom?” Mavis thought as she drove back to camp, leaving the crime scene behind her. “The answer to my question soon became apparent.”
“When I returned to the site of the murder, I noticed the pied crows pecking at a struggling warthog piglet still in its burrow. The piglet was desperately trying to reunite with its grieving mom, but first, it was to escape the veracious crow.”
Warthog parents are amongst the best guardians in the African bush. Keeping their young well hidden in underground burrows, out of the site of waiting predators, this mother tried her best but was unsuccessful as she lost 3 young piglets in one day. Luckily for this mom, she had some happiness when her fourth piglet was saved and reunited with her.
“The mother Warthog crossed the road, met her surviving baby, and led it across the road where it joined her in grazing the green grass. That is where I left the Warthogs, just hoping that the Pied Crows would not return.”
—WATCH—
Hatlane Mabunda arrived at the scene shortly afterward and filmed the last surviving warthog reuniting with its mother.