# The Miracle Lioness



## Luminosity (Jul 22, 2004)

Continuing on Vood's gorgeous 'animals-adopting-other -animals' story....

Has anyone seen the BBC documentary ( i think it was originally a BBC doco ...I actually saw it on 60 Minutes tho ) .....about the lone lioness who adopted a baby oryx ( antelope) ?
She protected and took care of it for weeks before a male lion took it. The lion had been stalking them for a few days and when Kamuniak ( the lioness ) turned her back to drink , the lion saw his chance to grab the oryx. Up until that point , she was slowly starving as she refused to leave the oryx to go hunt for food.The oryx was starving as well as he wasnt weaned & had only fed off his mother once after his 'kidnapping'.
They filmed everything , got it all on camera and it was heartbreaking to watch. When the male lion mauled & ate the oryx , Kamuniak could only watch from a distance , unable to save her 'baby'.
She went into mouning for a while , then went on to adopt more baby oryx'....
I feel so sad for her....
I LOVE this lioness! 

http://www.magicalkenya.com/default.nsf/0/A4FBEE7046ED7CAD43256C4F002BE2E4?opendocument&l=1

I originally posted this in the ridgeback and fawn thread but I didnt wanna hijack Voods thread so I created another for this lol...... :sillysmi:


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## mrsid99 (Jul 22, 2004)

Have you actually seen the pics concerning this story?
 The reason I ask is because I vaguely remember reading about this a while back and recollect that there was a suggestion it was a stunt by an animal reserve for publicity.


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## Luminosity (Jul 22, 2004)

Lol well it DOES sound unbelievable but it did in fact happen ....she adopted a total of 5 oryx' ....over a period of a couple of years ( not sure how long exactly ).
Sadly , after the last adopted oryx was taken from her by rangers (actually I think the last one might've been a baby impala ) , she disappeared . 
Park rangers havent seen her for about 9 months.She may have moved out of that particular park and/or been accepted into a pride or , worst case scenario , she might have died .
I saw the BBC documentary on ' 60 Minutes' about 6 week ago ... 
BBC heard about this lioness and sent a film crew to the park , which is Samburu National Park in Central Kenya.
I think there is a pic in the link I posted above but heres some other pics .....


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## mrsid99 (Jul 22, 2004)

Thanks for the update, much appreciated.
 Quite a poignant story but I can't help but wonder if the lioness was experimenting with a packed lunch?


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## airgunr (Jul 23, 2004)

Very interesting story.  I wonder if she had lost her cubs and was still feeling "maternaly" (sp?) and therefor adopted these?  

Or the packed lunch.......  ;^D


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## Luminosity (Jul 23, 2004)

mrsid99 said:
			
		

> I can't help but wonder if the lioness was experimenting with a packed lunch?




 mrsid .....lol.

She was only a young lioness , airgunr , a 'teenager' ....so the 'maternal ' behaviour probably doesnt stem from losing cubs. Fair call tho....
As she is a lone lioness it might prove difficult for her to raise her own cubs because she doesnt have the protection of a pride. So she and any cubs will be vulnerable to attack from male lions and other predators roaming around.


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