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Heart of a Lioness FAQ
Q: When did you first see the oryx with the lioness?
Q: What puzzled you most about the pair?
Q: What did the local people think of this bizarre sight?
Q: Did they run into any other big cats?
Q: How did the calf eat?
Q: What did the Samburu people make of it?
Q: What was Kamunyak’s reaction to the lion attacking the calf?
Q: When did you first see the oryx with the lioness?
My sister, Dudu Douglas-Hamilton, and I were lucky enough to witness and film the unlikely event of Kamunyak the lioness adopting a week old oryx calf in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya, in January 2002. The odd pair were first reported on the 21st Dec 2001 by a driver from Larsens lodge in the Reserve. He insisted that the calf had still had its umbilical cord when he first saw it. When we encountered the lioness and calf for the first time on the 1st/2nd Jan 2002, the umbilical cord was gone and we estimated they had been together for about two weeks.
Q: What puzzled you most about the pair?
What puzzled us most was how an unweaned calf was able to survive two weeks in the company of a lioness without suckling. Both animals were very thin and seemed to be on the brink of starvation, but it was hard to predict which of the two was worse off as the odds were stacked against them both.
The calf was utterly reliant on the lioness for protection against predators, but its captive state and association with a lioness deprived it of its sole food source – its mother’s milk. The lioness seemed to have formed such a strong attachment to the calf that she would not leave its side. Since the calf was on an incessant search for its mother (and milk) the lioness was forced to follow, which in turn prevented her from hunting. She might have hunted under cover of darkness, but we did not see her feeding on the remnants of a carcasses, nor did she exhibit any signs of having made a recent kill (blood on face, full belly). On one occasion only, did we see her attempt to hunt a warthog but quickly she gave up and trotted after the calf when it walked away from her.
The puzzle of the calf’s survival took us longer to piece together. Both park rangers and tour drivers reported seeing the calf returning on occasion to an adult oryx and suckling for a brief moment before being recaptured by the lioness. Whilst we did not see this ourselves, we believe that when the mother oryx saw that her calf had not been killed outright by the lioness she stuck around in the hope of retrieving it. Caught between fear and astonishment she stayed as close as she dared in response to the cries of her calf. The calf, though very young, was deeply bonded to its mother not to mention hungry. On several occasions we saw it seek out oryx and attempt to rejoin them. We believe that on a few odd occasion when the lioness’ guard was down (i.e. if she dropped off to sleep) the calf was probably able to rejoin its mum and suckle just enough sustenance to keep it alive.
Kamunyak’s behaviour in these instances was interesting. She would allow the baby to spend some time with the oryx, watching intently from a distance. But if the calf wandered too far from her she would start to follow, whereupon the adult oryx would take fright and run. The baby would follow the adults, and the lioness would give chase using all her predator tactics to recapture the calf. Reunited, the lioness would rub her head gently down the calf’s body, and the calf would nibble softly on the lioness' ear.
I do not know how the calf could have survived if it had not been suckling on rare occasions from its oryx mother. The lioness had no signs of having been pregnant, neither of having lost cubs, nor was she lactating. Her teats were not visible which would suggest that she had never been pregnant. We estimated her age to be about 2-3 years old, and the calf to be between 3-4 weeks. Being an arid zone animals, the oryx calf would need rich milk from its mother and although we saw it nibbling on plants (probably driven by extreme hunger) it did not eat anything substantial, and was far too young to be able to digest any plant matter that it did ingest.
Q: What did the local people think of this bizarre sight?
Local Kenyans from the lodges and around the park arrived in droves to see for themselves a legend in the making, and tourists were moved to tears. Of course there were many references to God - "Mungu amefika" (God has arrived), "dunia ataisha" (the world is coming to an end), and the inevitable bibilical misquotation – “the lion shall lay down with the lamb”. I was told by a fervent born again Christian that I had witnessed part of a prophecy.
Quite naturally, many people were deeply moved by the scene and wanted to do something to help the unlikely pair, “fence them to keep the miracle alive”, “rescue the baby”, “feed the lioness”! Under pressure the Warden tried to feed the lioness. But she paid no interest to the meat.
As a scientist I knew we were witnessing something very odd indeed that had the potential to be important to science. I felt strongly that nature should take it’s course. I am still of the opinion that meddling, even with the best of intentions, can cause more harm than good.
Q: Did they run into any other big cats?
We heard from driver guides and rangers that on one occassion when Kamunyak went off to hunt, some cheetahs grabbed the calf, whereupon she came racing back and chased them off.
One of the rangers guesses that the lioness came across the oryx shortly after its birth, but she had just eaten from a kill so was not hungry. He believes that the lioness licked off the afterbirth and that this triggered something in her brain to became its mother-protector.
Q: How did the calf eat?
The calf was utterly attached to the lioness, but it would consistently seek out oryx, associating them with mother and milk. Rangers reported that it had been leaving the lioness to go and suckle from its mother. We never saw this ourselves, but we did see it approach oryx on several occasions and be accepted by them. I believe that it is quite possible that this happened as we saw that the lioness would allow the baby to spend time with oryx. The mother would have stayed close by once she saw that the baby had not been eaten. I do not know how the baby could have survived if it had not been suckling from its mother, and Dr. Mark Stanley Price - an oryx expert - thinks that it would not have survived for more than a few days without milk.
Q: What did the Samburu people make of it?
The Samburu nomadic pastoralists from a village called Giltimany on the edge of the reserve were relatively unsurprised by the adoption as they claimed to have had similar experiences. They told us that some time ago a three year old child had wandered off and disappeared, found later in amongst a pride of lions whose cubs they said the child was playing with like dogs. Greatly concerned for its safety warriors watched from a distance until the child fell asleep and the lions walked away. They told us many legends that were of a similar nature.
Q: What was Kamunyak’s reaction to the lion attacking the calf?
On the last day, 6th Jan 2002, the lioness and calf walked down to the river and drank deeply, it was the first time we had seen them drink in 4 days. The calf passed right by our vehicle and the lioness slunk out of sight then reappeared around a bush in front of us, flopping into its shade. We filmed their tender interaction as the calf came to touch noses with the lioness. Little did we know that this was their last moment.
As the calf moved out of sight, we heard a terrible cry and saw a stray male lion snatch the calf up into its jaws. The lioness reacted as if she’d been stung, flattening against the ground in fright with claws out. Unable to rescue the calf and too terrified to take on an adult male lion she watched helplessly as her calf was killed, all the while lying close to our car for protection. The lion took a very long time to kill the calf and it cried out plaintively. That rough lion tongue and great teeth that had once been so comforting and familiar, now the tools of its death. The lioness was distraught and we watched the play of emotions on her face. She reacted exactly as a mother losing its cub, unable to rely on help from sisters and pride-mates, overwhelmed by an infanticide attack by rogue male lions.
The next day we followed up on the lioness and we found her on an impala kill hidden deep in a bush. She was very nervous, but had become a predator again. It was reported that in the afternoon of her calf's death she had killed and eaten a baby warthog, and the impala that we found her eating had been a cheetah kill that she had stolen. As far as we know this was the first time she had eaten since the start of her strange obsession.
Saba and Dudu Douglas-Hamilton
Feb 2003
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