Thread: Loving Lioness

NAIROBI (Reuters) - It's nurture over nature for a lioness in Kenya who keeps choosing to dote on baby antelope rather than devour them.
Kamuniak, a lioness in northern Kenya's Samburu National Park has adopted her fifth new-born oryx this year, a Kenya Wildlife Service warden told Reuters Monday.

The oryx is a type of African antelope more likely to be viewed by lions as lunch than a little one to mother. Kamuniak, whose name means "the blessed one" in the local Samburu language, has been adopting oryxes since the start of the year.

On each occasion she has tried to protect the calves from other predators and even allowed their natural mothers to come and feed them. But eventually the calves escape with the help of their natural mothers, are rescued by park wardens or in one case made into a snack by a male lion while Kamuniak napped.

The wardens think Kamuniak's adoption of the little calf nicknamed Naisimari ("Taken by Force") took place at the weekend after they saw the two together Monday morning.

"She must have adopted her yesterday because they are in harmony," Samburu warden Gabriel Lepariyo said.

Naisimari's natural mother has been seen following her offspring and its unlikely surrogate parent at a distance.

suuuuuuuuuure. since the lionesses do all the hunting, i think she was just keeping him until he grew big enough to feed more of the pride!

http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/east_...,44861,00.html



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Lioness eats adopted calve
October 12, 2002, 12:45


A female lion that has in recent months befriended five baby oryxes in a Kenyan game reserve devoured its latest companion, a safari guide says. The lioness - which locals have dubbed Kamuniak, or "The Blessed One" - has this year been observed in Samburu National Park in close quarters with five different oryx calves, a kind of antelope that usually serves as prey for the king of the jungle.

In previous instances, the lioness has defended the oryxes against other predators. But when the fifth calf, "adopted" less than a week ago, died of hunger on Thursday, the lioness promptly ate it, said James Lesuyai, a guide for a park lodge. This is the first time that Kamuniak has eaten one of her charges.

The lioness became famous in Kenya when pictures of her walking side-by-side and lying in the grass with a baby oryx were published on the front page of a local newspaper. Game wardens have previously separated the oryxes from the lioness because the calves could not feed.

Wildlife experts have been at pains to explain Kamuniak's behaviour. Some have said the lioness is showing maternal instincts toward oryx calves because it cannot conceive. The oryx is a herbivore which at birth is a tawny brown colour, developing black and white markings on its face and long, straight horns at adulthood. - Sapa-DPA

Hey...she waited til she starved it to death first....Ok...that's bad