Big Cat Cliff Hanger

This took place at Kenya's Masai Mara game reserve.
It was captured by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot.

It starts off with a young cub clinging its life on the side of a vertical cliff.
And the frustrated lions who try to save the youngster.

The drama begins: The mother arrives at the edge of the cliff as her son cries out for rescue after being trapped when he slipped

Four lionesses look over the edge before aborting their rescue mission because of the sheer drop.

Slowly, agonizingly, the mother cat edges her way down towards her terrified cub.
One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine.

Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws. She then begins the equally perilous journey back to the top.

The mother gives her cub a lick to say that all is well.

Amazing the drama in that occurs day to day in the animal kingdom.
But what I really want to know is, was this an act of love?

www.rense.com...

wow i love animals. All the instincts you find in animals you find in humans too. We are not so different..

what a wonderful depiction of fabulous animals indeed.
love ?? i would say most likely but i suppose that is debatable.

one thing i am sure of though, this was not an act of "survival of the fittest"
i will always be proud to be a part of this kingdom.

Awesome.

And of course it was...

It was the knowledge that a member of their pride was in danger. And the sheer resilience to protect and save that cub, is a testament to an animals awareness. They too posses emotion, and are fully aware of what happens in their own 'society.'

Nice post OP. I guess it really was a "cliff-hanger."

Oh wow........what a great story! S&F for you! I love cats, especially the big ones. I know people will say it's just instinct to perpetuate life, but I beg to differ. They definltley love their babies. I have watched my cats with their babies, and I have no doubt there is affection....yes, sometimes they kill their young, but it happens with humans too. I used to love hearing my mother cat "talking" to the babies in a sweet tone, and the babies "answering" her voice. Check out this video....the kitten is having a bad dream and the mother comforts the kitten....priceless!

WARNING....cute overload!




even siblings show affection....everybody say awwwwwwwwwwwww

How do we know that was a "Big Cliff" with a certain death if they fell.....For all I know, and from what the pics show it is a small earth embankment, not some rocky cliff edge.

reply to post by ken10
I think your missing the point ken......
2nd line.

Originally posted by Atzil321
reply to post by ken10

 

I think your missing the point ken......
2nd line.

No, not missing the point, this happens all the time in nature....just like the heard of buffalo's that go to the aid of a youngster that is being attacked by lions.

So to me this is just sensationalism of something that happens all the time.

reply to post by ken10


*sigh*....just relax and smile...nothing wrong with that

Originally posted by StealthyKat
reply to post by ken10

 

*sigh*....just relax and smile...nothing wrong with that

I am see.

reply to post by ken10


see? It's contagious...now I'm smiling! It's nice to think they are motivated by love.....

**Starts singing**
Kumbayaaaaa my Lord
Kumbayaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Seriously though....I think it's part instinct and part love for their babies!

reply to post by StealthyKat

Dammit! Enough with the cute already! I can't take it! Cheesy grin on the face, lump in the throat and a tear in the eye.

SnF to the OP too! Mroowwwll!



Self-confessed cat-lover here.

Amazing, i love nature, and these post really do make my day

Reminds me of this post Leopard Kills Baboon,adopts its baby

no matter how nice the thought someone just has to make a negtive about a nice post .
This wasnt about how much danger this cub was in nore was it about how parents of any spices care for there young .
It was just about showing animals working togther helping each other.
I would pity that cub if your we its mother or father as you would be standing there saying well lets see if he dies befor we worry about rescue

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


You can never have enough cute kittehs!

reply to post by ken10

Hyenas, jackals, other jaw-crushingly equipped animals also roam the jungles, forrests and plains of Africa. This cub would have been dead in an hour or two if left undefended. Hope it helps.

reply to post by FoosM


Nice pics, thanks for sharing OP. Is it love? Hmmm. I don't think so. I think it is motherly instinct to protect her cubs, it's the hard wiring of a lion's brain.

Example. When these cats get older they tend to leave their family unit to start their own, they lose contact with their mothers once they're big enough. If it were love, we'd see these cats stick together in perpetuity, but that's not the case.

well in that case i gess humans dont have love eather as our kids leave and many times never have contact with the parents .

Yes it is love.

All mammals have a limbic system, which is a formation in the center of the brain from which emotions emanate. They do not intellectualize it, as humans do, because they don't have much in the way of frontal lobes, but it is a "gut" emotion, and they feel it every bit as keenly as we do.

If it wasn't love, that lioness would not have risked her life over the cub, because she can have others.

I remember seeing a wildlife show about leopards, and it showed a mother leopard who found her cub dead by a riverbank. That mother cat cried and wailed and refused to leave that dead cub for at least a day. Her plaintive, gut-wrenching cries over the loss of her baby is recognizable no matter what species you are.

Love is not the bailiwick of humans. In fact, I would argue that we are not as good at it as the other animals, and we could learn a great deal from the selfless acts animals do every day.

reply to post by Jason88


I get what you're saying, but inbreeding is prevented in these animals by the young adults leaving the pride and starting with another group with different genetics. I have noticed the same thing in cats. The brother cats will chase the full grown sisters away, because nature favors diversity. Inbreeding means the eventual destruction of the species.

With these animals, the love is overcome as the cubs become adults, for the greater good of genetic diversity. Love does not have to be forever to be love.