Even for the lion, the king of beasts, the predominant predator of the food chain, it is not easy to hunt. It’s because herbivores are always on alert, and when a predator approaches them, they recognize it soon and run away for their lives. So, wild lions are hungry more often than they are full. One day, a lioness, which was successful in hunting in the Madikwe Game Reserve in the Rep. of South Africa, showed an abnormal behavior against instinct.
After a chase, the lioness bit the neck of an antelope and stopped its breath, and began to satisfy her hunger. Then she found something in the stomach of the antelope, and pulled it out with her mouth and gently placed it down on the ground. It was a fetus. The prey she caught was an antelope that would soon become a mother if she had lived. The lioness looked at the calf and nudged it with her nose. As it didn’t move at all, she covered it with the grass around her. Then she didn’t eat the mother antelope and kept the place for a while.
The park staff who saw this said, “Realizing she has killed a pregnant antelope, the lioness seems to show regret for her action.” Even in the heartless world with the law of the jungle, there must be something profoundly moving when it comes to the existence of a mother.