While still learning to walk, a new-born giraffe must fight for its life from a hungry lioness with only the protection of its mother! At a mere age of 10 hours-old, this giraffe escapes the lioness, but the ending is something you’d never expect!
Incredible footage by www.escapesafarico.com?lsv & www.safarinut.com?lsv
This unbelievable sighting was captured by 30-year-old, Wildlife photographer and owner of Escape Safari Co, Don Heyneke and by safari consultant Rustom Framjee, founder of Safarinut, while on safari in Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Masai Mara, Kenya.
Don tells LatestSightings.com the story: “A female giraffe gave birth to a baby calf. 30 minutes after being born, the giraffes are already able to walk with only minimal stumbling and, within 10 hours, they are able to run.
Don tells LatestSightings.com the story: “A female giraffe gave birth to a baby calf. 30 minutes after being born, the giraffes are already able to walk with only minimal stumbling and, within 10 hours, they are able to run. Unfortunately for this young calf, a hungry lioness and hyena showed interest in the calf right after it was born.”
“The interested lioness and hyena were trailing the giraffe and her calf, but the hyenas quickly lost interest, leaving only the lioness who was almost herding the herd for over 6kms (4 miles). The newborn calf was knocked over several times by its mother while trying to escape the lioness.”
“After walking 6kms, the giraffe and her baby, who at this point had not even had a sip of milk in its life yet, reach a dead-end caused by a riverbed. The lioness creeps up to them, thinking this is the finale to an already intense series.”
“The mother tried to protect her calf from the lioness and panicked – accidentally bumping the new-born down a cliff. The new-born calf was now stuck in the riverbed, the mother went outside the riverbed and tried to coax the young calf out but it was too weak to climb the bank.”
WATCH:
“The calf lay down and at this point stood no chance against the apex predator who took the opportunity to grab the calf and carry it towards the water.”
“The mother did her best to protect her new-born calf and chased the lioness away multiple times and at this point, we thought the calf was 100% dead. To everyone’s surprise, it stood up but not for very long as the calf ended up finding safety in the river where it fell asleep from exhaustion. The baby giraffe, with a fight for survival like no one has ever seen before, drowned.”
