Has anyone seen this special on Animal Planet? I found it unbelievably moving. I've always felt a bit bad for lionesses, as the males of the species can be disturbingly violent to even their own kind, but this was unbelievable.
For those who haven't seen it, Kamunyak is a lioness in Kenya who has no pride. Scientists and researchers guess that it was killed, so she was forced to wander alone. Left with the trauma of losing her loved ones and having no pride or territory to belong to, she developed an odd interest. She adopted an oryx baby. For those who don't know, and oryx is a gray, antelope-like animal (I'm not sure if it's officially called an antelope) with two tall, straigth horns on its head. In other words, they are a lion's prey, especially the young and defenseless ones.
However, Kamunyak cared obsessively for the oryx calf for 16 days, refusing to eat and making sure the baby never left her sight. The researchers even threw meat to her in an effort to feed her, but she refused it. Both the lioness and the baby were starving to death, as the oryx had no one to nurse from and Kamunyak would not eat meat as long as she had the calf with her. On the sixteenth day, the dazed and starving calf was killed and eaten by a male lion when it wandered away from Kamunyak. The lioness watched fearfully as it was dragged away, and stopped to smell the spots where it had bled like lions do for their own cubs.
Kamunyak didn't stop there, though. She adopted several more oryx calves over the next year. Some were killed or starved to death, and another reunited with its real mother. Afterwards, Kamunyak dissappeared and hasn't been seen since.
I can't explain how moving this program was to watch. i have a cat myself, and it was unbelievable that such an instincive animal could adopt something meant to be prey. To me, it shows how misunderstood animals are as far as their emotions and mental capabilities. This lioness refused to hunt as long as she had the oryx calf, but obviously hunted afterwards, since she survived. I'll admit that I cried when the oryx was killed. Though the fact that it died might have been for the best. It was starving to death either way, and probably saved Kamunyak's life because she would not eat emat in its presence. Though it left me afraid that she might never trust other lions, as the male lion was the one who killed the baby right in front of her.
If you're curious to find out more, there are pictures of Kamunyak and the calf here: http://www.save-the-elephants.org/Photo Gallery/Miracle Lioness/Kamunyak.html. A brief story of her is here: http://www.lewa.org/oryx-lioness.php.
I've seen other cases of animals adopting other animals, but never a case of a wild predator adopting wild prey. Any comments/opinions/other stories you wish to share along these lines?
For those who haven't seen it, Kamunyak is a lioness in Kenya who has no pride. Scientists and researchers guess that it was killed, so she was forced to wander alone. Left with the trauma of losing her loved ones and having no pride or territory to belong to, she developed an odd interest. She adopted an oryx baby. For those who don't know, and oryx is a gray, antelope-like animal (I'm not sure if it's officially called an antelope) with two tall, straigth horns on its head. In other words, they are a lion's prey, especially the young and defenseless ones.
However, Kamunyak cared obsessively for the oryx calf for 16 days, refusing to eat and making sure the baby never left her sight. The researchers even threw meat to her in an effort to feed her, but she refused it. Both the lioness and the baby were starving to death, as the oryx had no one to nurse from and Kamunyak would not eat meat as long as she had the calf with her. On the sixteenth day, the dazed and starving calf was killed and eaten by a male lion when it wandered away from Kamunyak. The lioness watched fearfully as it was dragged away, and stopped to smell the spots where it had bled like lions do for their own cubs.
Kamunyak didn't stop there, though. She adopted several more oryx calves over the next year. Some were killed or starved to death, and another reunited with its real mother. Afterwards, Kamunyak dissappeared and hasn't been seen since.
I can't explain how moving this program was to watch. i have a cat myself, and it was unbelievable that such an instincive animal could adopt something meant to be prey. To me, it shows how misunderstood animals are as far as their emotions and mental capabilities. This lioness refused to hunt as long as she had the oryx calf, but obviously hunted afterwards, since she survived. I'll admit that I cried when the oryx was killed. Though the fact that it died might have been for the best. It was starving to death either way, and probably saved Kamunyak's life because she would not eat emat in its presence. Though it left me afraid that she might never trust other lions, as the male lion was the one who killed the baby right in front of her.
If you're curious to find out more, there are pictures of Kamunyak and the calf here: http://www.save-the-elephants.org/Photo Gallery/Miracle Lioness/Kamunyak.html. A brief story of her is here: http://www.lewa.org/oryx-lioness.php.
I've seen other cases of animals adopting other animals, but never a case of a wild predator adopting wild prey. Any comments/opinions/other stories you wish to share along these lines?
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