Willing her newborn calf to stand up after 15 months of pregnancy, a giraffe tries to protect her baby from lions, hyenas, and jackals. Will the baby survive?
A Giraffe tries to protect her baby from lions, hyenas, and jackals. This was tinged and witnessed by many wildlife enthusiasts on the H4-2, near Crocodile Bridge in the Kruger National Park.
30-Year-old freelance guide and compliance officer Stef Botha and Tania Lodder-Kotzé witnessed this heart-breaking, yet action-filled sighting recently.
“The previous day I saw (on the Latest Sightings WhatsApp group) that a mother giraffe had given birth, according to participants on the group the calf had been struggling to stand. The next day I visited Kruger for a drive and found the giraffe and the dead calf about 3km from Crocodile Bridge gate. I spent nearly five hours there filming everything that was happening.”
“It was such an emotional sighting. Giraffes gestate for about 15 months and to lose a calf so shortly after giving birth must be a terrible experience. The calf must have died during the night and this mother giraffe stood there protecting it the whole night, up until the lions arrived the next morning.
She kept a few jackals at bay, a hyena, and for a short while the lions. While she was chasing the hyena, the jackals would come in and feed on the little calf, it was terrible.”
“At around, 11 am a lioness arrived on the scene, the mother giraffe still fought her off. It was only after the male lion arrived that the mother decided to give up. Perhaps because her own life was now at risk. As she walked off the male lion grabbed the giraffe calf and headed off into the bush with it.”
“A lot of people stopped for a few minutes and then left. However it is always best to have a bit of patience in these situations, you can learn so much from watching animal behavior.”
“Every time it tried to get up it either fell on its face or onto its side. It broke my heart to see him falling over all the time with mom trying to help and motivate him to get up. As a bystander you can get involved, so you just have to wait and see what might happen next. My husband and I came to the conclusion that the calf must have hurt its back or legs at birth and that was why it could not get up.”
“After three years of not being able to go to the Kruger, it was absolutely wonderful the be there and be part of the bush and see the animals again.”
