Lioness adopts oryx calf

2002-01-07 10:35

Nairobi - A grown lioness, who baffled experts in Kenya by adopting a baby oryx, a kind of antelope Africa's top predator likes to eat, lost her companion on Sunday to a hungry male lion with a strictly traditional diet.

The lioness came across the oryx shortly after it was born two weeks ago in Samburu National Park, finding it lying in wait for its mother who had gone to search for food, staff at the nearby Samburu lodge said on Monday.

Defying nature, the lioness quickly adopted the oryx, giving it affection and protection from other predators as if it were her own cub, though strangely still allowing the mother oryx to come and feed her calf occasionally before scaring her away.

"The baby oryx was very close to the lioness," Patrick Muriungi, a receptionist at the lodge said.

"Once, there was a leopard which wanted to kill the oryx, and the lioness was really protecting the calf."

On Sunday, the lioness - weakened by a lack of food after two weeks of protecting "her" baby - led the oryx to the river to drink.

"By bad luck the male lion was somewhere behind the bushes," Muriungi said. "When the lioness went to take a nap, the baby oryx was playing around and it was caught by the lion. The baby was killed.

"The lioness roared. She was very angry. She went around the lion about 10 times roaring, and then the lioness disappeared. Then the lion took the carcass down by the tree and ate half of it. The lioness has not been seen since."

Nature expert Vincent Kapeen told the Daily Nation newspaper that the lioness may have adopted the calf because it had lost the company of its pride and was feeling lonely. "What is baffling is why the relationship lasted so long," he said.

- SAPA