Lioness Adopts A Baby Lamb, What Happens Next Stuns Researchers

15. The Unlikely Pair

On February 14th, 2017, guests of Kruger National Park in South Africa noticed a very unusual sight. It was a tiny baby lamb, not even a month old, in the paws of a giant and hungry lioness. But there was something unusual about this sighting according to the onlookers.

14. Terror Ensues

The lioness who had the trembling baby lamb in her paws decided to put her entire mouth around the lamb’s body. The lamb let out a terrified shriek and onlookers prepared to look away as they knew the gory scene that was about to come next. But blood and gore were not what happened next.

13. Blood and Gore?

The lioness instead, responds to the lamb’s shrieking and decides to put down the lamb. This was truly unusual as the onlookers thought for sure that the lamb was about to be eaten. But they continued to observe the pair and were surprised by what they saw.

12. A Rare Calmness

The lioness just sat very still and kept the lamb resting on the ground between her paws. The lamb was not being held down or restrained in any way at this point but it remained in place. This was the lamb’s chance to break away but why wasn’t she taking it?

11.Friend or Foe?

The couple continued watching and could see how heavy the lamb was breathing- still clearly panicking.  It’s not in their nature for a lioness or lion to play with their food when they have it trapped. Something very rare was unfolding right in front of them.

10. Taste Test

The lioness brought her face in close to the lamb’s body once again and the couple held their breath. But the lioness seemed to be sniffing the little creature. What could that be for? Is she still deciding whether or not to eat her?

9. Time for Bath?

The lioness then opened her mouth once again and lowered it to the lamb’s body. The lamb was still laying between the lioness’ paws not showing any signs of panic this time. Then unexpectedly the lion started to lick the lamb almost in a grooming fashion like she would do to her cubs. Where these two friends now?

8. Unlikely Friendship

This was truly an interesting moment for the onlookers. A lioness and a lamb showing signs of affection towards one another,  who would have thought. Well, that thought came to an end very quickly when out of nowhere something seemed to change in the lioness’ behavior.

7. Life or Death

Before the couple could blink the lamb was struggling for its life inside the lioness’ mouth. This time it was not in an affectionate way. The lamb was shrieking and then all of a sudden broke free of the lioness’ death grip. The tension was building as they watched what was about to happen.

6. The Great Escape

The lamb had broken free and was now making a break for the brush not too far away. Hoping once she reached the brush she would be able to hide until the massive predator was gone. But the lioness was fastly coming up behind her.

5. Runaway Snack

The massive predator bounded across the dirt and soon loomed over the lamb who was desperately trying to make an escape. The lioness swung and the lamb’s hind legs in an effort to catch her runaway snack.  Who was going to win?

4. Captured

After a few swings at the lamb’s hind legs, the lioness had made contact. She pinned down the creature with one of its back legs. Then in one fluid motion grabbed the struggling animal by its neck with her mouth. The fight for life or death was now about to take place.

3. The Mystery

The lamb continued to struggle but the lioness tightened her death grip on the animal and began to walk back towards the end of the reservation. The lioness had won, and she was about to come back home with her prize, the lamb. The couple was heartbroken and in shock at what they had just witnessed. What an emotional rollercoaster of an interaction. Researchers, however, can draw some conclusions about why the lioness may have acted to strangely towards the lamb.

2. An Interesting Theory

It’s widely known that large predator cats such as lions and lioness do not play with their food. Once their prey is down, they begin to eat. But why in this scenario did the lioness seem to almost befriend the lamb? Some researchers say that because it was an infant the lioness was using the young lamb as bait to possibly lure in a mother lamb. Why would the lioness be interested in a mother lamb?

1. Bringing Home the Bacon

The answer to that previous question is quite simple. It is a way of getting a larger meal. The baby lamb would not have have been as fulfilling as a full grown lamb. Seeing as the lioness would be bringing home the bacon so to speak, she wanted the biggest option possible for her and her hungry cubs.