In the Greater Kruger, a giraffe attempts to protect her dead baby from hyenas at this heartbreaking moment, but she does not give up or abandon it.
Field guide Alexandra Olivieri, 34, reported this dramatic sighting. She saw a giraffe cow giving everything she had to prevent hyenas from eating her kid long after it had been caught.
When suddenly my tracker and I observed a net of vultures falling down from the sky, we were working at Kings Camp in the Timbavati.
Ironically, we had just left the hyena den when we made the decision to find out what the vultures were drawn to. The scene was really interesting. We weren’t expecting to come across a female giraffe ferociously defending her (maybe) newborn baby from a hyena family.
We weren’t prepared for such a scenario, so it came as quite a shock. The female giraffe’s ferocity was truly amazing. She was growling and stamping to fend off the hyenas, and I think that was what shocked us the most.
“We came back the next morning to see what had happened throughout the course of the night. A hyena clan was eating on the carcass when we finally made it to the sighting. A male lion showed in while the hyena social dynamics were being played out, took the carcass from the hyenas, and then killed it.
“Follow the bushes’ cues. We wouldn’t have been able to see any of it if it weren’t for the vultures. It’s crucial to keep an open mind while the situation develops in front of you. Give the animals room and let them continue with you only as an observer so as not to disrupt or interfere with the sighting.