Buffalo Herd Comes To The Rescue Of Elephant Calf Attacked By Lions

A holiday maker who was on safari in South Africa managed to capture some unique footage of a buffalo herd stomping to the rescue of an elephant calf that was being hunted by a lion pride. The footage was shot by Ms Jill Mathews and was uploaded on to YouTube by Kruger Sightings. If you watch the video you will see what happened when Ms Mathews safari group departed from Punda Maria camp and encountered a group of animals seeking water at the nearly-dry Klopperfontein Dam.

Shock and disbelief

In her post Ms Mathews wrote that the group were in both shock and disbelief as an elephant calf emerged from the bush completely alone without any sort of protection from its herd. She adds that the lion pride immediately attacked by ambushing the baby elephant. As the attack unfolded a group of buffaloes heard the commotion from the watering hole and decided to investigate what was happening. In the wild buffaloes and lions are essentially mortal enemies and when the buffaloes spotted the lion pride they were none too pleased Ms Mathews continues.

A second attack took place

According to her account the buffaloes decided they wanted the lion pride out of the area and entered the fray, chasing away the lion pride. One by one the lions made their escape enabling the baby elephant to get up and run for its life. Apparently, the lions then made a second attempt on the elephant calf however because the line of sight was obscured by the bush, neither Ms Mathews or her husband knows how that ended. We hope the baby elephant ended up okay, whilst life and death are laws of the jungle, its never pleasant to visualise the killing of a baby elephant.