An unexpected bite of thievery was find in Kruger National Park , South Africa , on February 1 after a baboon made off with a Leo sonny boy . Sadly , theLion Kingthis was not , though .
Amazingly , Kurt Schultz , managing director of tour operatorKurt Safari , manage to beguile the whole spectacle on camera in a serial of photos showing the young male baboon take hold of the cub before hot - dog it up a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and beginning to prepare it “ as if it were a child baboon . ”
Schultz had been out in the park one early morning when he came across a scout troop of baboon that come out to be behaving excitedly . Another vehicle radical also watch the baboon mentioned a potential lion cub sighting amongst the multitude , and after waiting patiently , one appeared that did indeed have a Panthera leo cub in its arms .
At first , it was wear the cub was dead , Schultz explicate in a statement emailed to IFLScience , but when the baboon get over the route , go up a marula tree , and start out train it , it became obvious the lad was alive .
baboon are members of the big primate family , Old World monkey , and are both large and firm . They are also territorial and can be strong-growing : It ’s not strange for baboons to kill the untried of much large animal like big cats or baby within their own troop . But this behavior was unusual .
" In 20 old age of guiding southerly and east Africa , and being in the Kruger for tight on 20 old age , I have see baboon viciously obliterate Panthera pardus cub and have heard of baboons defeat lion cubs but have never see the care and attention given to a social lion cub in this manner , " Schultz say in the statement .
Like all hierarch , baboon spoil insocial grooming , though the reasons vary among the species . “ Male baboon do a band of training but the care give to this Panthera leo cub was the same forethought chip in by a female baboon to one of her own young , ” according to Schultz .
It ’s unlikely this was a pleasant experience for the cub though .
“ The sonny boy seemed very exhausted and although uninjured to the naked optic , there might have been home legal injury to the cub , ” Schultz said . “ Baboons are really solid animals and when they were all excited and defend over the baby in the beginning , it could have been injured internally . ”
Though the age of the rookie is not known , the field the encounter bechance is do it as somewhere Leo and cheetah moms hide their newborn young carnivore amongst the hills and boulders while they go off to hunt . The young carnivore would have been scared , dehydrated , and perhaps anguish , with very lilliputian luck of being rescue by its family . Although preyed upon by leopard , baboons ’ formidable canine teeth , which at5 centimeters long are retentive than lion ' , intend they are evenly capable of tearing adult Panthera pardus asunder .
Distressing as it may have been to find a stolen cub , document this behavior offers a rare coup d’oeil into wild beast behavior . Schultz admitted he wish the cub could grow up and experience a wild , free life , but it was very unlikely the animal survived . Later reportssuggest the cub did indeed break down .
" Nature has its own style , we can not get involved and we require to keep Kruger simple and wild , " he say .
Though it ’s fair common foranimals in captivity to form unbelievable friendships , in the wild it ’s pretty unusual ( althoughthese BFFsapparently did n’t get the memo ) , so be wary of adorableanthropomorphic narratives . Away from the television camera , it unremarkably does n’t terminate well .
