Life is extremely difficult for a baby animal, and places like Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve make it even more difficult because there is danger at every turn. Mother nature is always ruthless, whether you are the prey or the predators. Fortunately for those children, their overprotective mothers are like super-heroes, always lurking around the corner ready to save them!
It’s also the story of a tiny lion cub who ended up in a precarious situation. The tiny cub went to a watering hole in Masai Mara with his mother and one of his brothers, but he couldn’t make it back to safe land due to the high grass and began to panic. Fortunately, his mother heard him crying and rushed to his aid. Wildlife photographers Laurent Renaud and Dominique Haution captured the dramatic moment on camera.
The 62-year-old French photographers witnessed the entire incident and had no idea the little one would survive. The brave lioness, on the other hand, rushed to the scene and rescued her baby.
“We saw a lion cub being rescued by his mother as the lioness and her two cubs went down a steep bank to drink water,” Renaud said. “The bank was quite deep and steep, and they had to climb back up after they finished drinking, but one of the cubs went in the wrong direction.”
Though the cub’s chances of survival were slim, his mother heard him and saved him just in time!
“The baby was about to fall into the water, so he cried out in panic,” the wildlife photographer explained. “At first, he attempted to climb the cliff, but quickly realized that it was too difficult… However, the female reached out to him, grabbed him in her jaws, and carried him the rest of the way up. You should always have a caring mother on your side!”
The dramatic moment can be seen here: