Heartbreaking Scene in South Africa's Hunting-Restricted Area: Five Young Lions Capture a Giraffe Calf, Touching Resulting Abdomen
On March 10th, the ‘Sun’ newspaper released a set of heartbreaking and helpless photos. Several lions were roaring joyfully, while the paw of one lion pressed down on the head of a giraffe calf, the little giraffe looked weak and lifeless, already unable to struggle.
The photos were taken in the Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa. Five young, un-grown lions caught one giraffe calf. The cubs initially played with the prey, looking as if they were stroking its fur. Perhaps the lions were still young, and they didn't quickly take the life of the little giraffe, it took about 10 minutes before the giraffe lost consciousness completely.
After that, the giraffe calf became the lions’ ‘meal’. They greedily devoured the prey, as if very hungry.
The giraffe calf’s mother was not far away, she witnessed the entire process of her child being captured and murdered by the lion group, but she was powerless, could only watch sadly and painfully.
The photographer of this set of photos was Australian amateur photographer Desmond Chu. The 47-year-old photographer said that when he photographed the animals, he was about 16 feet (4.9 meters) away. “Emotionally, I was very conflicted, such a young life was stifled like that, it’s a very painful image, and I could also hear the sounds and smell the odors, which made me feel even sadder.” “However, it’s what the king of beasts needs to do, there seems to be a sense of majesty in it.”
It was reported that although adult giraffes have a very low mortality rate due to their physical advantages, the mortality rate of young giraffe calves under 6 months is close to 50%. According to Desmond Chu, the five young lions were between 4 months and 6 months old, while the giraffe calf was smaller by a few months.
Note: The last photo was not taken by Desmond Chu
