A deadly game of buckaroo: Wildebeest tries to shake off lioness but is no match for the killer… who feeds the doomed beast to her cubs
A lioness took down a wildebeest in a deadly game of buckaroo at a national park in Botswana.
The female surprised the other animal at a waterhole, leaping on its back and trying to sink her teeth into the beast’s flesh.
At one stage she enlisted help from a fellow lioness as they tried to trap the wildebeest between them.
After a two-minute struggle the wildebeest was taken down, and the lioness fed the animal’s carcass to her three hungry male cubs.
The pictures were taken by Sue Morris, a photographer from Hampshire, during a safari trip at Nxai Pan National Park in the southern African nation.
‘It was most certainly a difficult thing to watch, but having seen the lion family over the previous days it was clear the cubs needed a meal,’ she said.
‘To witness such an event at close quarters and in daylight is very unusual and I was privileged to document one of nature’s greatest battles and experience the reality of what it takes to survive in the wild.’
Brought low: The wildebeest’s face is hidden by a cloud of dust after the animal was brought crashing down by the lioness
Mouth wide open: The lioness prepares to sink her teeth into the wildebeest as the other animal desperately tries to escape
Two against one: One of the lionesses enlists help from another member of her species as they attack the wildebeest together
On the chase: The lioness at full stretch as she lunges at the wildebeest, grasping on to the rear of the other animal
Leap: The lioness lifts all four of her paws off the ground as she springs up and tries to bite the side of the wildebeest
Death stare: The lioness holds on with her paws, with the wildebeest off balance as it tries to shake the predator off