The Blessed One

A 2-3 year old lioness ‘Kamunyak’ had adopted a Fledgling young Oryx calf. The news was treated with a lot of skepticism since an Oryx is a type of antelope upon which lions usually prey. Experts were at a loss to explain the big cat's affection towards the calves. The lioness, nicknamed Kamunyak, or The Blessed One, by locals, had protected her adopted young from danger and had allowed them to nurse from their biological mothers.[read more]

To comprehend the magnitude of weirdness associated with this story you have to watch the visuals[aired on Animal Planet] of the interaction between the lioness and her adopted love-child. Both trudge along weak in their knees due to lack of proper food, the lioness hasn't eaten for days and all her ribs protrude from her body while the calf, thin & frail, has not had it's fill of milk and can barely walk.

The final moments are heartbreaking, the lioness sits down in the shade provided by some shrubs, due to pure exhaustion and for the first time allows the calf to stray. Nature finally catches up to this divine couple, the helpless, thirsty calf is nabbed by a strong male lion hiding in the bushes. The lioness hears the commotion(calf cries its heart out for several minutes) and watches from a distance as her 'calf-cub' is toyed with & then killed to be consumed. The male lion leaves the scene after he's had his hearts full. The distraught lioness moves to the exact spot where the male lion had plunged his teeth into her calf, she sniffs the ground to get a whiff of her 'baby' for the last time. The grieving lioness....

Talk about Nature getting turned on its head!