20 February 2002
The story of a lion adopting an oryx in a game reserve has baffled the world. It is something out of the ordinary, a first in history, writes Kurgat Marindany.
A most unusual relationship between prey and predator, a first in history, took place in the Samburu National Game Reserve. A predator defied nature and adopted its prey.
It was something from nature that left the world astounded. Experts say it has never happened before in a natural habitat.
The lioness christened Larsen by senior game warden, Mr Simon Leirana,came to the limelight when it was sighted around Koitogor hill in the Samburu National Game Reserve with the Beisa oryx on December 20, last year.
Lioness Larsen watches over the baby oryx in an incredible defiance of nature.
Larsen Kamuniak (in Samburu language for gifted) is now a permanent resident in the Oryx plains near Larsen's Camp in the game reserve.
She is part of a pride of eight lions who control the turf around Larsen's Camp, along the banks of River Ewaso Nyiro.
Local rangers observing the lioness believe she may have been ex-communicated by the rest of the pride of lions for her strange behaviour.
For two weeks, Larsen cared for the baby oryx christened Simon. The lioness allowed the little oryx's mother to suckle it.
Larsen would follow the mother oryx and baby from a distance and quietly observe as the baby fed.
When the lioness felt the oryx had suckled enough, it would chase the mother away and resume its watch over the baby.
One day, the rangers say, two cheetahs decided to split them by creeping towards the napping duo, but Larsen was quick. She left one for dead while the other has never been seen near the area again.
However, Larsen devoted more of her time to caring for the little oryx than looking for food.
It is believed that she spent the 15 days she cared for Simon without food and depended on water from a nearby river for survival. She ignored the gazelles and antelopes grazing in the plains.
But Larsen and Simon's relationship was cut short by a lion that was desperate and hungry.
Larsen is said to have gone hunting when the lion from another pride devoured the oryx.
When everyone thought the eighth wonder of the world had come to an end, last Valentines Day, Larsen adopted another beisa oryx.
The baby oryx was christened Valentine.
Rangers say that after she lost the first oryx, Larsen trailed herds of oryx in the area up to the Uaso Nyiro but did not interfere with the herds. It was from these herds that she picked on Valentine.
But sadly for the lioness, conservationists from Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) sna- tched its newly adopted baby to prevent it from starving to death and moved it to Lewa Downs, a private game sanctuary near Nanyuki, where veterinary doctors administered first aid on him.
This time unlike in the case of Simon, the lioness did not allow the mother to suckle him.
Debate has been raging in Samburu over whether man should intervene to conserve this unusual relationship or sit back and let nature take its course.
The opinion that seems to be winning suggests that since Larsen has moved so far to contradict the postulates of nature, then she should be given a hand.
Following the calf's rescue, Larsen appears to have gone on a hunger strike.
She has refused to hunt after the calf was snatched from her and has not moved from the spot she and the oryx spent their time.
Leirana believes that Larsen must have been saddened by the development, hence the hunger strike.
Leirana says the oryx will remain at the sanctuary for a while as experts check its condition before returning it to its natural mother at Koitogor in the Oryx Plains.
Meanwhile, conservationists, researchers and veterinary doctors from Nairobi have flocked the now busy reserve to study the lioness.
The Isiolo KWS senior district warden, Julius Kimani, says experts are studying the lioness with the assistance of local rangers who have been following the animal for the last few months.
Larsen is known to specialise in eating warthogs and gerenuk.
Mr Willi Dolder, a naturalist, describes the lioness as a "crazy beast".
Dolder says: "I am a naturalist and a traveller, but I have never heard of this. There is no record anywhere on earth with knowledge of this kind."
He has authored more than 70 books on nature, including those of wild animals in Africa and other parts of the world.
The big question is how long the world renowned oryx-adopting lioness will continue defying nature.
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