YOU WILL NEVER
SEE ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN!!!
Photographer
Evan Schiller and Lisa
Holzwarth were on a game
drive in the northern Botswana's Selinda area when they came
across a big troop of baboons charging through the
bush.
"30-40 baboons were heading in our general
direction making a lot of noise," Lisa recalls.
The
baboons were obviously frightened by something and they all
scampered up trees, shouting, alarming, and making a big
scene. It quickly became clear what the problem was: two
large lionesses came out of the tall grass and rushed the
baboons into the trees, soon joined by two more
lionesses.
"Between the baboons shrieking and the
lionesses communicating with deep guttural roars, it was a
mad scene," Lisa says.
But then the real chaos began! One
brave baboon descended the dead tree and tried to make a run
for it. but got snapped up in the jaws of a lioness.
The lioness
grabbed a female baboon on the run. But there was something
else there. As the baboon lay dying in the jaws of the
lioness, a little baby (less than a month old) slowly
disengaged from its mother's body. Photograph by Evan
Schiller
Instinct took over and the baby tried to
make a go for a tree, but did not have the strength to
climb. At this point the lioness noticed the "little guy"
and went over to investigate. Photograph by Evan
Schiller
Instead of snapping the baby up in a
deadly movement, she started to play with the baboon.
Photograph by Evan Schiller
The lioness was
inquisitive and gentle at the same time. Photograph by Evan
Schiller
After a while
she picked up the baboon softly in her mouth and walked
away, then settled down with the baby between her paws.
Photograph by Evan Schiller
In a strange
behavioural twist, the baboon started to try and suckle the
lioness. Photograph by Evan Schiller
What happened
next blew our minds - the baby, in another instinctual
moment, held onto the lioness' chest and tried to
suckle.
Photograph by
Evan Schiller
The lioness got distracted-this time by
two male lions who arrived on the scene. Their advances,
however, were met with aggression by the lioness. Was she
defending the baby baboon? Or just uninterested in their
mating advances? Photograph by Evan Schiller
Here's where
it gets interesting: Waiting in a nearby tree is a big male
baboon, who is obviously intent on saving the baby. The male
lions were causing such a ruckus that it presented a short
window of opportunity for the brave hero to descend the
tree, grab the baby and head back to safety.
The father
baboon had to make a move. Holding the baby, in all sorts of
contorted positions, he tried numerous times to climb down
the tree. He tested the lionesses' interest with each
descent. Photograph by Evan Schiller
The heroic
male baboon, having just saved the baby from the lions,
cradled him in his arms. Photograph by Evan
Schiller
"I was touched by how gently the
father baboon held this little baby who was in tough shape
after its ordeal." Life
is fragile and no matter how much we fight to control its
outcome, all we can do is live in the
moment."
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