Story Source and Picture Credits: Saba & Dudu: Heart of a Lioness

Happened to tune in to SCV Animal Planet yesterday... And watched this really amazing story shown on "Lion Pride"... I almost fell off my chair when the show started... A story about a lioness adopting a young oryx calf...

This astonishing act dated back to January 2002, where a lioness in Samburu National Reserve, Northern Kenya, was first seen to be in the company of a week old oryx calf... This sighting was reported to the rangers, and the rangers kept a tab on the unusual event... And indeed, the odd pairing stayed together for almost 16 days... During which Kamunyak (the name given to the lioness) never hunt any prey at all...

Kamunyak always stayed close to the young oryx calf, never letting it wander out of its sight... Furthermore, the calf was utterly reliant on the lioness for protection against predators... With the only biggest problem that faced them was the fact that both animals were on the brink of starvation... The calf could not digested the grass that it ate, as oryx calf as young as it depends on the mother's milk... And Kamunyak had not tried to hunt any prey or steal any kill when it was with the young oryx calf... Except for one instance, though the hunt was stopped half way as Kamunyak realized that the calf had tried to follow a herd of adult oryx... Seeing Kamunyak roaring in a desperate attempt to find the young oryx calf made my heart ached... However could this motherly affection towards a young oryx calf happened? Especially when Kamunyak was still considered young, and had never went through the pain of losing any cub... This was an act that defied the laws of nature...

Tender interactions between Kamunyak and the calf were witnessed by tourists who were attracted that and filmed on TV... This went on for 16 days until tragedy occurred... The odd pair was ambushed by a full-grown lion... My heart cried for Kamunyak, who was flattening against the ground in fright with claws out... The desire to rescue the young oryx calf and yet fearful of the lion tore across Kamunyak's face... The lioness was awfully distraught, and yet it had no choice but to listened to the cries of the terrified calf at it's dying moment... Kamunyak had reacted exactly as what a mother would when she lost its cub ... Obviously, the motherly love the lioness had for the calf was way strong for human to comprehend... People from all across the world had just seen a miracle happened... One between a predator and a prey...

This strange obsession Kamunyak had with young oryx calf went on, with reports documented for as much as 6 adoptions...

1st Adoption: 16 days – calf eaten by male lion (Dec - Jan 2002)
2nd Adoption: 2-3 days – calf rescued by Kenya Wildlife Service (Feb 2002)
3rd Adoption: 2 days – calf rescued by mother, lioness injured (Apr 2002)
4th Adoption: 24 hrs – calf abandoned, rescued by mother (May 2002)
5th Adoption: 2 days – calf starves to death and eaten by the lioness (Sept 2002)
6th Adoption: 24 hours – calf escapes back to its mother (Jan 2003)

This strange phenomenon was indeed very interesting... Had it not been screened on TV, I would had dismissed this as a rumor... Nothing as surprising as this was predicted, given that it was a well established fact that any predator would hunt mercilessly for preys to feed on... Kamunyak had displayed an almost impossible affection for the calf, and this was not just once, but six times... I am sure that deep inside Kamunyak, she was not a real scary predator, but one with a heart... She had shown how attached she was to the calf during the span of 16 days, and the loss stung her as much as any grieving mother... It was kind of sad to see the miracle ended in the most cruel way... The lion tongue that used to gently comfort the calf, and the all-too-familiar teeth became the tools that killed the calf...

From now on, I am so going to see predators with a different point of view... One that was changed by a lioness and a calf...

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生活的无奈之处是你永远都无法预料下一秒会发生什么，但生活的精彩之处恰恰就是这些突如其来的考验！