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In the Samburu National Reserve of Kenya, a legendary animal tale was born -- a lion and a baby antelope lying down together in peace. Saba Douglas-Hamilton, a social anthropologist and conservationist for Save the Elephants, followed the animals for more than two weeks as their relationship grew. She watched as a normally fierce predator protected its prey. And she witnessed how it all ended. The antelope was an oryx just finding its legs. The cat was a young lioness still pink-nosed with youth—too young to have given birth and lost cubs, but old enough to know her prey and to hunt and kill it. For some reason, this young lion, having become separated from her pride, adopted the oryx “as if it were her cub”, says Saba. The two walked the land side by side and slept together, one an extension of the other. For a time, the lioness seemed conflicted by two instincts—maternal and predatory. But her mothering won out, and she kept the oryx close at all times, licking it gently and treating it as her own young. And the oryx, apparently having not fully imprinted on its own kind and not aware that this was a predator at its side, wasn’t fearful, and even tried to suckle from the big cat. But a growing antelope needs rich, buttery antelope milk in its first few months, which no lion can provide. So the oryx limped toward starvation. The lion refused to leave the oryx long enough to hunt for herself. So she, too, was going hungry, becoming more lethargic with each passing day. As Saba spent time observing the pair, she sought explanations from lion experts around the world. But all were puzzled; no such pairing was known in the wild before. Though young lions will sometimes “play” with a captured animal for a time before eating it, this didn’t seem a game. “Kamunyak and the calf are a living paradox…. Their intimacy defies the laws of nature.” Saba said. And both would likely die as a result of it. Locals wanted to help the animals, to try to feed them, to preserve the marvelous duo. An attempt to give meat to the lioness failed; she ignored the offering and went back to sleep. But the relationship would soon end. One hot day, with Kamunyak weak and resting in the grass, the oryx strayed out of sight, and a male lion snatched it up and carried it away. Kamunyak sprang up and followed but was helpless to assist. She sniffed the blood of “her baby” in the grass. She crouched down and watched the male devour it. The next day, as if snapped out of her strange reverie, the lioness finally hunted again, eating her fill on a warthog and regaining her strength. But she didn’t return to the normal life of a lion. Observers say in the coming months, Kamunyak adopted baby oryxes five more times—all for brief periods—before she herself disappeared from the area, adding to her mystery. What lay behind this extraordinary scenario? Saba suggests the lion lost her pride at a critical time in her development. “Her trauma probably fueled her quirky obsession.” Whatever stimulated the big cat’s behavior, Kamunyak remains forever an enigma to behavioral scientists and a beautiful curiosity to the rest of us. ♥
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