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.
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.
Instead of snapping the baby up in a deadly movement, she started to play with the baboon.
The lioness was inquisitive and gentle at the same time.
After
a while she picked up the baboon softly in her mouth and walked away,
then settled down with the baby between her paws.
In a strange behavioural twist, the baboon started to try and suckle the lioness.
What happened next blew our minds - the baby, in another instinctual moment,
held onto the lioness' chest and tried to suckle.
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?
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.
The heroic male baboon, having just saved the baby from the lions, cradled him in his arms.
"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."